The End After Death
by augur-cursed
Summary: WickedBookFicDid Nor have a power developing in her, and did she bring it out in the senseless broom? Maybe the broom was waiting to be believed in. Would it fly for Elphaba, tooOn hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Note: Well, this is my first fanficiton ever... well, to be truthful, the first fanficiton I ever posted. I'm only posting it because my friends have been yelling at me too and screaming at me... preferably I don't like it when people read my writing buuut I'll let this be an exception. This is a fic that takes off where the book ends... nothing more to say cept I hope you enjoy it and please review because I need to know you like it, pleaaase pleaaase like it, before I'll write more...  
  
Thanx to: the entire TSS... well those of you who wanted me to put the fic up a least... id like to specifically thank Amy for volunteering (hehehe) to be my editor and I do solemnly swear that if you go blind from editing all of my writing and my love for commas then it will be my fault...  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places in Wicked. They are the property of L. Frank Baum and Gregory Maguire.  
  
**Chapter 1**

A full moon was floating high above Oz. The soft moonlight gave the city a somewhat eerie feel too it, the way the light reflected off of the emerald towers causing them to sparkle faintly, like a city of green stars. Shadows cast by the towers covered the streets and melded together, giving the shadows a feel of infinite darkness, a darkness that covered most of Oz. But there were places among the spires of green where the beams of moonlight made it through, creating pools of light where they ended.

The streets were nearly lifeless. There were no rats in the city of emeralds, no creatures that would be viewed as unsanitary. With the lack of usual movement at night the city acquired an unnatural feel, a feel that didn't belong anywhere there were living things. Every now and then a nocturnal creature of some sort would break the utter and everlasting silence but only to increase the depth of the silence when the creature disappeared.

Emerging out of the darkness a white cat appeared, an old and withered cat, a cat that was past its point to die. It scaled the walls and tops of buildings with unnatural ease for a cat that appeared to be so old. It jumped down off of the top of wall, into a yard. It made its way to a building that towered over all other towers anywhere near it. It moved agilely around obstacles, keeping itself in the shadows and close to any solid object. At the side of the building, it jumped up onto the closest windowsill to the ground and continued to jump from barred windowsill from barred windowsill. It made its way higher and higher till it was near the top of the tower, stopping at one of the many identical, barred windowsills and just sat there. It bathed itself in the soft moonlight, giving the cat an unnatural white glow, which gave it a ghostly appearance.

The cat just sat there, looking into the cell through the barred windows. It was a rather plain cell, a cell just like every other one in the entire building. It was a square room, each wall was undecorated stone, each one identical, the ceiling and floor were just the same. Where a normal door would be, there was a door made up of bars. The entire cell was rather drab and plain. It had only two pieces of furniture, a wooden chair of unrecognizable age that was placed in the corner off to the side of the window. The second piece of furniture was a bed. Well, it was more of a slate then a bed, seeing as all the bed really was is a flat surface of rock attached to the wall and supported with two feet on the opposite side of the wall to stabilize it and prevent it from coming off of the wall. On the bed was a single sheet with a still figure underneath it, eyes open and awake.

Nor was lying still on her bed, just staring up at the ceiling. She knew that the cat was there and ignored it; it visited her every night and all it ever did was just sat there, staring at her. She kept hoping that one day it would slip and fall off during the tedious climb to her window, but each night it made its way up to her window without fail. She didn't know how it did it, not just how it made its way to the window, but how it could possibly do all of that physical activity, the cat looked ancient. She didn't know why the thing bugged her, it wasn't doing anything to her, but its presence made her feel uncomfortable.

She turned around on her bed and stared at the wall opposite the window, looking away from the cat and her barred window. She bit her lip from the ache that coursed through her muscles at having to do a physical activity. She still hadn't recovered fully from the beatings she had been given by the Gale Forcers when they took her and her family. She moved her thoughts to a different topic. Even the memories were painful. Her entire family murdered, well that is, her entire family except herself. She tried to avoid the question, the one question that she gave so much thought, she never really wanted to think about it, but she was never able to elude it. _Why didn't they kill me too?_ She couldn't answer the question and frankly she didn't want to know the answer. Some things are better left unknown, and this was one of them.

She decided to think about something else, something other then her more- then painful past. Her thoughts moved to a different part of her past, Auntie Witch. She was dead now, well at least that's what all of Oz said. But why didn't she free her like she said she would? Nor remembered the day like yesterday, the one moment of hope that she had since she was taken by the Gale Forcers. Auntie Witch had come to negotiate her freedom, she said that she would, but why wasn't she free? She couldn't help but think that Auntie Witch had left her to die. At least Auntie Witch did _some_ good. When she died, it left Nor without any value to the Wizard and he sent her to this prison. He didn't care about her at all, she could rot away and he wouldn't care about it, and Nor preferred it this way. Before she had prison she had been moved from Gale Force encampment to Gale Force encampment constantly. At least now she had a bed and a room to herself, and no beatings. True she was still just as dirty and unclean as she was before, and she was still wearing the same, ratty old clothes she had been wearing since... since... since she couldn't remember how long she possessed these clothes. But she had to count her blessings, and count them she did.

She could still see the shadow of the cat in the window from the moonlight spilling into her room. She turned over to face the cat again and sat up, she moaned from the ache of the old, healing bruises all over her body. It was five months since her last beating and still she wasn't entirely healed. She got up and made her way over to the window to look at the cat closer, she had nothing else to do. She sat down in the chair and studied the cat. It looked like just an ordinary albino cat, pure white fur and the only color on it was it's red eyes, red eyes that never left her. She got up and walked around her small cell, and its eyes followed her.

Nor shivered, it seemed more like the cat was studying her then she studying the cat. _Could you be an Animal?_ Nor thought suspiciously. She didn't think it was a Cat, it had never said anything to her, or showed any signs that it understood. But then again, she had never heard it meow or make any cat noises.

She just looked at it, and it looked back at her. It didn't move at all, except its eyes, if Nor moved, its eyes followed. She realized then, during her studying of the cat, why it unnerved her so much, it was the way it looked at her. The cat's gaze seemed to pierce through her body and see everything that was made up Nor. Everything. She shivered violently and discarded all thoughts about if it could understand, and think, and feel.

Then, for the first time since it visited her it took its eyes off her, it didn't only move its eyes, it moved its entire head, it moved in a way of urgency. The cat went rigid and its tail began to flick back and forth vigorously. Its ears were up and stiffened, and it went into a position of readiness to pounce on an unseen enemy. Nor couldn't see why, but the cat, or Cat, or whatever, was in a panic. It then left her windowsill for the first time while she was still awake. She finally saw how it did it too. It jumped from windowsill to windowsill on the small ledge of every window. From the looks of it though, it shouldn't be able to jump from the ledges, they were too small, way too small for that cat to be able to jump from one to another.

Then suddenly Nor felt it.  
  
Review PLEASE if you don't you won't know what happenssss...


	2. Chapter 2

Yaaay you reviewed... well one person I didn't know reviewed and said they wanted more soo... why not? Aaanny way I decided to make this chapter two parts... not cause its xtremely long... well actually it is HA... well longer any way but my editor isn't on so she cant' edit the second half so im left with only a half edited and I don't want to miss any big fat mistakes... even though the first half prolly got some mistakes but I don't caaaare here it issss (i changed it to chapter two cause part 2 is really long nowwww)

**Chapter 2  
**  
All of the sudden Nor felt the entire building vibrating. Very slow at first, it sent a small tingle, a resonance, up her feet into her entire body. She looked out the window to see what might be causing it, but she couldn't see anything that could be causing it. She walked away from her window and stopped, the vibrating had changed, she could feel the difference. It was stronger now, not by much, but a little stronger. It changed again, still getting stronger yet. The vibrating was growing in power, strong and fast. In what felt like seconds the entire building had begun vibrating to the point where it was apparent.

Nor's chair fell down from where it had been set last and began to move back and forth in her cell. It hit wall, after wall, after wall until it smashed itself into pieces, pieces that continued to move around her cell. All of the furniture that wasn't attached to the walls in the entire prison was on the floor in pieces, or on a rare occasion, whole and a large deadly projectile. The vibrating continued to grow and gain strength. She needed something to hold onto, something that would keep her from falling. She looked across the room at the first thing she thought would do the job, her bed. When she went to move forward, towards her bed, a chair leg came out of nowhere and smashed into her leg. She winced and fell down, but she didn't have time to think about if her leg was broken or not, she needed to get to the bed, and she needed to get there fast. She tried to get up but she fell down, the vibrating was too strong. She tried again and failed. She tried a third time and was finally able to get to her feet, she stumbled but kept her balance and took another step forward.

The building began to shake now, it began to shake to the point where Nor could barely stay standing up. All the chair pieces were flying accross the floor of her cell, it was hard for Nor to even stay standing up, let alone dodge flying pieces of wood. She stumbled forward and lost her balance, she threw her weight in the opposite direction of the bed and stayed standing up. The bed wasn't far away, but with this vibrating, Nor knew she couldn't make it there without falling over so she went to move toward the window so she could hold onto the bars. She turned around to head back when the building shook powerfully and her body was pushed toward the window. Seconds before she was about to hit her head she noticed that the view outside wasn't moving at all, the building wasn't moving back and forth, it was just... vibrating, she didn't have time to think on the question though. She threw her weight backwards to try and stabilize herself, like she had done before but the building shook in the other direction, the direction she was throwing her weight, she flew backwards and smashed her head on the side of her bed. She screamed in pain and held on to a bed leg to stop herself from further smashing her body up against the walls.

She really hadn't noticed what was happening around her during the shaking and she just realized that all the doors were off their hinges and on the floor. Everyone was awake and either out of their cells, or making their way out of their cell. This was her chance; this was her chance to be free again. She pushed herself up off of the floor using the bed for balance right when the shaking stopped. It just stopped, not slowly subsiding in a way as the vibrating had began, but it just stopped completely. Nor looked around puzzled. She didn't know what had caused the shaking to begin with, and she didn't know why it stopped, and she didn't care.

She bolted to the door into the hallway between two walls of cells. There were a few torches in random places that were lit and still shining, they illuminated the scene of destruction; it looked as if a twister had just strolled straight through the prison floor and ripped apart everything in its path. Through all of the destruction and confusion everyone was running to then nearest stairwell so that they could finally leave a place that had contained them for so long. Nor began to run down a flight of stairs closest to her.

As she ran down the first flight of stairs Nor could hear cries coming from stairs below, cries that mingled with the shouts of the Gale Forcers. She couldn't go back now, she couldn't go back even if she wanted too. There were so many people running down the stairs behind her. But Nor wanted her freedom and she would do anything she could to get it. With this thought in mind, a new determination formed, she began to run faster and claw the people ahead of her out of her way. As she ran down another flight of stairs she saw them, the Gale Forcers. There was a torch on the wall behind the Gale Forcers, its light reflecting off of their metal weapons and illuminating any reflective surface on their uniforms, giving them a supernatural, powerful appearance. Her heart beat faster at the sight of them but her feet didn't slow in the least. She kept going at full speed down the stairs. She didn't care that they had weapons, she didn't care that they were geared. All she cared about was being free. Nor counted the Gale Forcers, ten. They must have spread out to each stairwell in the entire prison... no even then there would be more than ten. The only possible explanation for this was that the vibrating did more damage on the lower levels then it did on the upper ones, leaving more of the Gale Forcers injured. Logically, though, this didn't make sense. If the building had been shaking so violently the top would have gotten the worst of it not the bottom. Despite the strangeness of the shaking Nor reminded herself of what she saw out the window, or what she didn't see for that matter, and what she didn't see was the building shaking.

She stopped halfway down the stairwell and grabbed the railing. _It's now or never._ Her hands tightened on the railing and she threw herself over the railing onto the stairs behind the Gale Forcers. She turned her body in a way so that her shoulder to the brunt of the blow when her body hit the wall. She fell down to the stairs behind the Gale Forcers, she was going to be free! She cried out in triumph. Big mistake. They noticed she had made it over and one dispatched from the group and went to go after her. She looked behind her and saw him chasing her. She needed to get away. She needed to be free and he wasn't going to stop her from getting what she needed. Nor ran like she never ran before, down 10, 15, 20, 30, 34 flights of stairs. When she hit the first floor she ran toward the first door she saw, moonlight was streaming through it, illuminating it, making it look like a beacon of hope. A beacon for freedom. A beacon for Nor. She ran and just kept on running until she was out of the building, out of the prison yard, away from the walls, into an alley behind a row of houses. She still didn't stop running. She wanted to get as far away from the prison as possible, as far away from the emerald city as possible.

All of the sudden, as she turned off a street around a rather large and wealthy looking manor she felt somebody, or something grab her arm.

you knooo you like it... and if you do REVIEW and if you don't like it... STILL REVIEW so at least I know people out there are reading!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Note: Well I did have two parts to chapter 2 but then... I reread my second part and I didn't like it... at all it was just too... too out of character really so I had to change it... a lot I added a whole lot and lookie here its now over the size of a full chapter sooo I'm changing my part 1 of chap 2 tooo the whole chapter 2 and the previous part 2 to chapter 3... yuuup sooo here it is...  
  
oh by the way if you think the end is a little too umm... radical... I just want to let you know it really isn't, it will be explained in later chapters so don't like think "Oh he's straying too far from the book!" well I'm not ok and besides... it's a fun idea... you'll see it develop in other chapters so don't worry now READ!  
  
And Amy, my dear sweet wonderful editor... I so solemnly swear that if your eyes really do burn out of your sockets and crumble into tinie tiny little pieces because of corrected my mistakes caused by my love for commas and run on sentences I will take full credit for it

****

**Chapter 3**  
  
Visions of a Gale Forcers in their brown uniforms with the green slash, wearing their helmets, and holding their deadly weapons flooded into her mind. The Gale Forcers were grabbing her and hauling her back to the prison where she would stay the rest of her life, taking away the freedom she had just earned. Taking away any hope or dream of having an actual life. In a fury she turned around and punched without looking. Her fist met a somewhat soft stomach, not a stomach that belonged to a Gale Forcer. She opened her eyes and stared in shock, "Liir!? What... Why... How?" Nor just stood there, staring in disbelief.

Liir was holding his stomach where Nor has punched him, his mouth was left open, gaping for air. "Geez, you never punched this hard before." Liir said once he was able to breathe. "Wow, Nor... you look _awful_!"

Nor hadn't seen how she looked, or cared for that matter, in so long that she had completely forgotten. She really must look awful, with her body newly drenched in sweat, not having a real shower in years, and all of her bruises and scars. She really must look like somebody that had been swallowed up and spit out. "I hadn't realized how bad I looked." Nor answered after she looked at her reflection in a nearby window.

She really did look horrible, her hair hadn't been shampooed in... in she didn't know how long and it was all over the place, tangled in large knots and sticking out at odd angles. Her face was completely covered in dirt, with sweat dripping down her face, absorbing some dirt with it, turning the sweat into mud, mud that was sticking to her face. To top it off there was a huge scar on the right side of her face. It came from below her cheekbone and ran up to end before reaching her eye. There was also large bruise the size of a horizontal pear underneath her left eye. As she traced the wounds on her face and all of the memories of being beaten returned to her

Liir came up behind her, "Are you ok Nor?"

Nor turned away from her reflection and glared at Liir, "I'm fine!" Nor said defensively, even though her entire body ached from running so hard, all she wanted to do was fall down and sleep, but she didn't mean he meant the question that way...

"No need to bite off my head, you look awful and I really don't think you _are_ ok, so tell me whats wrong!"

Nor couldn't answer him, she hadn't really expected a fight from Liir. He had always been a push over and he had never stood up for himself. He really has changed, Nor thought. They were both standing in a small pool of moonlight between the shadows of all the towers of the Emerald City. With the light on him she was able to look at him closer. He really had changed, and not just in the inside, he wasn't chubby at all any more. True he wasn't all muscle, but he did have some and he had lost a lot of weight, he was average size now. He was more of a man then a boy now, it was a big difference then from the way Nor remembered him. But what had changed about the way he looked the most was his face. It wasn't a mellow face that looked like it just took whatever it got and didn't complain any more. Liir's face had hardened somewhat, he was still there, it was clear that it was still the old Liir, but there was a new sharpness to his features that told Nor he had experienced a lot since she last saw him.

Nor felt ashamed, after all these years she still treated Liir like a piece of dirt, she turned and walked away from him into the shadows. She couldn't stand to look at him, she couldn't stand for _him_ to look at her. "I... I'm sorry Liir. I'm not fine... no... I'm not..." She turned towards him, only her face illuminated in the moonlight with her eyes sparkling with tears, "But its nothing you can fix or should care about... its something only I can fix ok?"

He eyed her worryingly "...Are you sure?"

She looked at him then, really looked at him, suddenly she remembered something that happened so many years ago in her childhood.  
  
_It was a few days after they found Liir in the well. After the adults found out that Liir didn't even have a bed to sleep in it pained Nor to know that she was the cause for his lack of a bed to sleep in. He had asked many times to sleep in her bed but if he did, there wouldn't be enough room for her, him, and all her dolls. The parents began to argue again, over what, Nor wasn't sure, she never really paid any attention to them, they always bickered. She looked at Liir and all of the sudden a rush of emotion came over her, she suddenly felt an overpowering sorrow for Liir. To be all- alone in the world like he was, to have no friends, no real family... _

_"... but if there's none other for him he can come up to my room, and I'll sleep on the floor!" Nor looked up at these words from Nanny. Nor couldn't let such and old lady sleep on the floor. _

_"Of course not, the very idea," Nor heard her mother reply, as if a mimic of her thoughts. _

_"Barbarians, the lot of you!" _

_Nor could see the offensive expression that grew on all the faces of her family. She knew she should be offended took, and in a way she was, but she thought that what Nanny said was true. She knew it was true and she couldn't deny it, but she had to break away from the stereotype on her. "Liir can have my bed." Nor used a tone that made it clear it wasn't an offer, Liir would have her bed, end of story, no questions, and that's how it was. _

_Three days later Nor was in her closet, visiting her dolls, she had taken them off the bed so Liir could have all the room he needed. The closet door was open slightly, letting a sliver of light through from the bedroom. Nor heard the bedroom door open and two sets of foot steps come in. Nor turned around and looked through the opening between the wall and the door, for some reason she felt the urge to remain hidden. Only a few hours earlier Liir had begun to talk and move again, she knew that people would come sometime to question him about what happened, she just didn't think it would be so soon. The two people who entered were Auntie Witch and her mother, they moved over to the bed and sat down on two white chairs that had been brought in for people to monitor Liir. Nor watched silently and not moving, she took in everything that happened. _

_Her mother was the first to talk, "How are you dear? Are you ok? Are you comfortable?" It seemed to Nor that her mother's lack of attention to Liir had finally became apparent to her and she was trying to make up for it. _

_"Everything's fine." Liir responded groggily in a raspy voice. Nor didn't think that they came here just to ask if he was ok, she thought that there might be something more too it, soon Liir began to share her suspicions, "Why are you here?"_

_"Oh just to see if everything was ok." Responded Nor's mother in an all-too-caring voice, "You nearly died on us."_

_Liir raised an eyebrow, obviously seeing through Sarima's false caring. He turned toward Auntie and gave her a questioning look. She rolled her eyes, "All right, all right, we came here to just ask you what happened at the well, why did you even go in there in the first place?"_

_"The fish talked to me," Liir averted his gaze from the two adults and he began to twiddle his fingers, "she told me to come down." It was a clear lie, everyone knew by now, or suspected, that it was Manek who told him to go down there, but with the recent death of her brother nobody dared speak their suspicions lest they be attacked verbally, and possibly physically, by the entire family. Liir continued to speak, "The fish told me she was magic. She said that Fiyero was my father, and that Irji and Manek and Nor are my brothers and my sister." _

_When hearing these words Nor gaped in shock, she looked at the two adults and saw two very similar, very different expressions. They were the same as in, they were faces of shock, but two very different shock. Her mother was in a shock of how-dare-he-tell-such-lies and Auntie Witch... Auntie Witch. Nor's heart beat faster, she saw the look of a shock at having hearing someone tell her deepest darkest secret when she never told anyone in her life. Nor was pretty sure that Auntie Witch was Liir's mother, and now she was sure that Fiyero was Liir's father as well. Nor was so shocked she jumped away from the door as if it was made out of white hot burning coals, she turned back to her dolls and tried to forget what she just heard and saw. And forget she did, she made herself never think of it, ever, so that one day hopefully she would forget about it entirely. To begin to sidetrack her mind she left the closet and took Liir to go pet her mouse.  
_  
Nor smiled, tears streaming down her face, "Don't worry, I'll be ok... you just worry about taking care of yourself, bro."

Liir's eyes widened in shock, he blinked and tears streamed down his face. In the soft light of the full moon his tears looked like rivers of diamonds cascading down his face. He ran over to her and hugged her, she laughed and returned the hug. "Don't worry I am." He assured her.

After Nor hugged her brother for a few more minutes she pulled away and whipped the tears away from her face. She still had family! She wasn't alone anymore. She had never been and she didn't think she ever could be happier then she was right now. "So, why are you here in the Emerald City, and how did you even find me to follow?"

Liir followed Nor's lead and whipped the tears away from his face too, "Well, I'm here because of you..."

Nor looked puzzled, "Me... what do you mean you were here because of me? Do you mean that... that was you?!" Nor gasped, "_You're_ the one who destroyed the prison?" Liir nodded, "But how?!"

"Well... it's a long story... there's a lot you don't know..."

"Then tell me... Start from... from what happened after... after we were taken."

Liir looked around, as if realizing for the first time where they were. "In a bit, lets go somewhere we can talk safely." Liir gestured to Nor and she followed him into a side alley.

Nor had so many questions, what had happened at Kiamo Ko while she was away? She needed to know and she couldn't wait" Liir, can we at least walk and talk, I really I want to know what happened."

Liir sighed, "Ok."

They walked a bit more, the only sound being that of their footsteps walking down the silent, lifeless alleyways. Liir looked like he was getting his thoughts together, after a few more seconds he spoke, "I'll try and be brief. After you and everyone else were taken, Auntie Witch tried to find you and get you back for a year. Obviously she wasn't successful. If she was then we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"_Obviously_," Nor sarcastically agreed, "Go on."

"After that, for the most part, all we did was live, nothing really happened at all, the days went by, one by one, each the same as the one that came before. But then something happened. Auntie Witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the East, was killed, I think Nanny said her name was Nessarose." Liir stopped in the middle of an alley. He tilted his head to the side. He looked like he remembered something, a memory that was triggered by his words. He shook away whatever recovered memory had come to him.

He returned to what he was saying when he was done leading her through a complicated series of alleys that branched off of one another, each alley as dirty and silent as the next. "Anyway Auntie went out to go see what happened, I don't know what happened when she went out, she didn't tell me, but something happened. She came back going on about some shoes. It turned out that the person who killed her sister was Dorothy," He said the name in a way of familiarity, familiarity with a hint of something more to it.

"Dorothy... Dorothy Gale?" Nor asked, remembering hearing something in one of the Gale Forcer encampments.

"Yes, Dorothy Gale... you heard then?"

"That's it the Gale Forcers talked about when the learned her last name... I didn't know if the Gale Forcers were making it up and it was just a rumor... Anyway, what happened?" Nor wanted to know so badly, she had heard some of what Liir was telling her from the Gale Forcers, she had also heard some very different things, but most of it was new to her.

"Well, when Dorothy arrived at Kiamo Ko we welcomed her, but when Auntie Witch came down from her tower all she wanted were the shoes. They were really red, really shiny shoes, I didn't really get a close look at them so I don't know if they were actually made of rubies or not but they were called the ruby slippers.

"When Auntie asked for the slippers Dorothy told her she couldn't take them off, so Auntie threatened to her. Then... then..." Liir stopped, "Well... umm... t... to put it short, Dorothy didn't want to kill Auntie Witch but somehow she accidentally did. I never actually saw myself if she was dead or not, Dorothy just said when the water touched her she was gone. All that was left of her was her clothes and her hat. Nobody knows what really happened to her so we all just agreed that Dorothy had melted her. It was the only explanation we could think of. After that there was no reason to stay in Kiamo Ko anymore. We were going to stay there because Nanny couldn't travel but then all of the sudden Nanny died not a day after Auntie did."

"Poor Nanny, I liked her, she was nice."

Liir stopped and turned around, "Yea, she was."

"How'd she die? Old age?" Nor asked.

"Yea, she was really old... I can't believe she lasted so long."

"Me too." They reminisced in the memory of Nanny for a minute and then Liir led Nor through a dank, moist stone tunnel.

He continued to tell the story of his past after waiting a few more minutes. "I decided to go back to the Emerald City with Dorothy and everyone that she came with. When we got back and told the Wizard that the Witch was dead he gave everybody what they had asked for. Turns out that Dorothy and everyone she came with was promised something if they killed the Witch. But he promised Dorothy a way to go home. So he and Dorothy were going to go to her home but she never actually got on the balloon to go away. Everyone thought she left with him and with Dorothy presumed to be gone, nobody believed her when she said that she was still there. All of Dorothy's friends left her after they got what they wanted we had to leave the Emerald Palace and we've been living in the streets ever since. We decided to try and find what was left of your family, to see if any of you escaped so we could maybe live with you. Then a month after the Wizard left we found out that you were taken to that prison. We've been trying to find a way to get you out since then and then here we are now." Liir fell silent. Nor followed him around a crumbling, ancient stone building that had what looked like a fungus growing all over it.

Nor stopped, "There's only one thing I really want to know, how exactly did you destroy the building? I know you didn't really _destroy_ it but how did you do... what you did?" Nor asked, "I mean the only explanation would be- "

"Magic." Liir finished the sentence for her.

"Magic?" Nor puzzled, "But you can't do magic... can you?"

"No, it wasn't me, I can't do magic." Liir assured her.

"Then who?"

"Well, it was... well... it was Dorothy."

IF YOU READ PLEASE REVIEW


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Ok I finished this chapter the same day that I finished chapter 3... but im waiting a day... I decided to wait and read all of your reviews first because I like to make it clear what im trying to get across in this fic, I'm trying not for it to stray too much from the book but lets face it, the characters that im working with right now weren't given that many borders and allowed me to use a little freedom with them, I really don't want it to seem that im one of those people that twist and turn the story into something unbelievable... I know last chapter was a bit on the edge of that line that I don't want to cross but, its pretty normal if you see it from a different angle... so to answer a concern of yours:

animeluvr1: if you read at the end of the book it says on page 406: "A lot of nonsense has been circulated about how Dorothy left Oz. There are some who say that she never did; they say as they said of Ozma before her that she is in hiding, in disguise, patient as a maiden, waiting to come back and show herself again. Others insist she flew up into the sky like a saint ascending to the Other Land, waving her apron giddily and clutching that damn fool dog." --- remember "The Wizard of Oz" is supposed to be how everyone perceived what happened, and "The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" is supposed to be like what really happened, the behind the scenes, and nobody was really sure what exactly happened to Dorothy, so, I was in need of some flavor so I decided to keep her around, no big... what happened in the past in my fanfic will come around slowly and over time, I expect it to be very long, and very fun hehehe... and as for Glinda, she's going to come around, I'm not going to stay in the Nor perspective for much longer, I'm waiting for a strong place to end her story for now and then move to a different person, don't worry, Glinda will come around soon enough... 

Oh by the way i wasn't exactly suuure that fiyero even _had_ a last name and they called sarima the Dowager Princess and all and... i just decided to use Dowager as a last name... if there is a real last name please tell me so i can switch it, if not im just going to keep it like it is (edited: changed it to Tigular)

Chapter 4  
  
Nor gaped, her mouth open, eyes wide and staring thoughtlessly. _Dorothy! **Dorothy?** Of all people to use magic as a weapon_... _**Dorothy?!**_ "Dorothy! _Dorothy?_ Of all people to use magic as a weapon... _Dorothy?!_ How could she have possibly done it?"

Liir laughed at his sister's befuddlement, "Hold that thought for just one second and you can ask her yourself." Nor cocked her head and then remembered that he was leading her to where he and Dorothy were staying. "Follow me," Liir told her while giving her a sweeping arm gesture to tell her to come. She followed him, still a little shocked and amazed. _Dorothy! **Dorothy?** Of all people to use magic as a weapon... **Dorothy?!**_

Liir lead her into a small, narrow alley, bordered by the saddest looking buildings Nor ever saw. She really didn't think such buildings would be allowed in such a grand and sanitary place such as the Emerald City, but there they were. Liir left the alleyway and went around a few of the dirty, ancient looking buildings Nor had stared at just seconds before. Liir made a sharp turn and lead Nor into a small, barely visible, alcove in a wall surrounding one of the better looking, but still ugly, buildings.

The opening in the wall was just barely large enough for Nor to squeeze through, she had to go in sideway and crouch to get inside. The inside of the wall was lit by a single wax candle in the middle of the room, illuminating the room to a point where Nor could just make out everything. The room, she didn't know what else to call it but a room, wasn't that big at all, a little larger then the size of her old bedroom at Kiamo Ko. There was practically no furnishing at all, only a little more then that of her cell. There were three chairs and a table. On the table was a very large book, a book that looked vaguely familiar, a few other smaller books that paled in thickness to the massive one at the center of the table, and a few lone sheets of paper.

That was all that was in the room, save for the small girl sitting in one of the chairs, trifling through all of the papers and books. She was what Nor thought to be maybe 10 or 11, she was wearing normal shoes, a worn looking blue and white checkered dress with a white blouse underneath. Her hair was tied behind her back, but a few strands had fallen free from the tie she was holding her hair up with.

When she heard both of them enter she looked up, the candle illuminated her face, her entire face gave the impression that she was tired, desperately tired... a tired that years of sleep couldn't take away. When she saw Liir her expression automatically changed to a smile and her entire face brightened up, but the tiredness could still be seen.

She got up from the chair and she met Liir in the middle of the room with a long, intimate hug. "What took you so long Liir? I was so worried!" She pulled away from him for a second, his forehead was creased with worry, his eyes scanning her to see if she was ok. He brought his head down and they kissed, a long passionate kiss. It looked odd, someone so young to kiss like that. But when it was with Liir... it just looked... right.

Nor wasn't exactly sure what to do, she stepped back until she hit the back wall of the room and averted her gaze. After their kiss ended Dorothy looked over at the back of the room and saw Nor for the first time. Both their cheeks colored in embarrassment, Dorothy's for having kissed Liir so in public, and Nor for witnessing the kiss.

Dorothy walked over to where Nor was standing, Nor didn't move, she was still a little too embarrassed. "Hello, I'm Dorothy, Dorothy Gale, and that's my dog, Toto, over there," she pointed to a small, furry lump underneath the table, something Nor had missed when she scanned the room, "I'm sure you've already met Liir." She looked over a Liir to see if she was correct in her presumption, Liir smiled.

"Pleased to meet you." She said as she shook Dorothy's hand, "My name is Nor Tigular. So, this is where you've been living?" Nor said as she scanned the room a second time, "It's actually better then what I imagined." Nor said truthfully.

Dorothy smiled, "Well, Liir found it," she turned around to face Liir. He was beaming, "he also found all of this furniture and most of those books." She said, pointing to the items on the table.

Nor walked over to the table. She opened up each book except the large one, she remembered it and she didn't dare even open it. There was one thing in common with each book, "They are all magic books," she turned to Dorothy, "I know you used magic to do what you did to the prison, what exactly did you do?" Nor asked inquisitively. She had always been amazed by magic and as a child she had always eaten up any story that had any magical relevance. Now her thirst for magical knowledge took over.

Dorothy sat down, Liir sat down next to her then Nor followed their suit but when she pushed her hair in, one of the legs it the sleeping, furry mound that was Toto. The dog lifted its head with a "Gwhrr?" sound, it immediately saw Nor and leaped to its feet and ran out from under the table. It was a small, furry little mutt with darkish brown fur. Nor could tell that this dog was a yipper, an annoying dog that made small, high pitched barks for no apparent reason except for the sake of making noise. And sure enough once the dog saw and smelt someone new in the room, it barked. No it didn't bark. _It yipped._

Dorothy cringed, "He isn't that friendly to people he doesn't know, he tends to bark a lot too, when we met Liir he barked for a whole month before he got used to him. Just give him some time. He usually gets used to women faster then men." Throughout the entire time Dorothy was talking, the small little dog was barking, no _yipping,_ throughout the entire thing and it continued to yip afterwards. Nor looked at the dog, it looked like the most annoying thing she had ever seen, and then she heard it yip again, and again, and again, and then she knew it _**was**_ the most annoying thing she had ever seen. Nor decided to ignore it, there was nothing she could do to make it stop barking, she had to just ignore it. Simply that. Ignore it. Put it out of her mind and just flat out ignore it.

Dorothy looked at Nor with an apologizing expression, she could tell how much the dog was annoying her, "Well I suppose I'll answer your question now." _Just ignore it,_ **yip** _there's nothing to it, just ignore it,_ "We'll I have been taking magical classes for a while now," **yip**, _ignore it, just ignore it_ **yip**, "Liir has been working, and we have been starving just to pay for them." _It doesn't exist,_ **yip yip**, _its not real._ "It took me so long to learn the spells, mainly because I'm not Ozian I think," **yip yip**, _ignore it, just ignore it, its not real,_ "But it still took so long. Then Liir," _its not real,_ **yip yip yip** _not real at all, ignore it,_ "found these spell books and I used them to," **yip yip** _ignore it!_ **yip** _It doesn't exist!_ **yip yip**, "find a spell that would get you out of that prison." **yip** _ignore it,_ **yip yip yip**_ just ignore it,_ **yip** "And that's pretty much how I did it." **yip yip yip yip yip yip yip**

Nor couldn't stand it anymore. She jumped out of her chair, sending it flying behind her, she walked over to the dog, towering above it, she hadn't determined yet what she was going to do, impose fear into it, or kick it, she hadn't decided if she would do any bodily harm to it.

All of the sudden she was on the floor. She wasn't aware of anything but the gigantic pain in the back of her head, it was all she could feel. It took away her feeling of everything else. It hurt so much, she wasn't even sure if there was anything else to her except the pain. She tried to get up but her vision spotted and she fell back down. She moved her hand to the back of her head and took it away in a gasp of pain when her fingers touched the spot where she hit her head on the bed in her cell. She was breathing heavy, her lungs gasping for air, hoping that it would help her, but the pain relented and her vision began to go dark. The last things she saw before she went unconscious was Liir and Dorothy running to her to see what happened, and her hand, red with blood.

REVIEW, PLEASE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS I WILL ANSWER THEM!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Oh... ummm Dreamer731: my email is augurcursedhotmail.com ... ill email you my aim don't feel like telling the whole world lol 

And a little concern that a few people had: yeaaa I thought she would be older then that toooo but out the fics ir ead the majority had her at 10 years old when she "killed" elphaba and its only been like five months since then so im taking the liberty of making her birthday somewhere in those five months and making her 11... I mean ive seen her be anywhere from 10 – 13 "killing" elphaba and I always though she should be older so now that I think about it... ill think I will change her age to 11 killing the witch, 12 now, but she can still look 10 – 11 so I don't have to change my last chapter llam sometimes people looke youngggerrr then they aaaare... im lazy... oh yeaaa  
  
Oh since she wants to be mentioned thank you AGAIN amy for you mad cool editing skilllllllzzzz

hope you enjooy the chapter

**Chapter 5**  
  
Gray stone filled her vision. Well all of her vision that she could make out. Almost everything was blurred, but she could tell everything was the same color. Gray. She went to go push herself off of her stomach and the floor, when she realized, she wasn't on her stomach or the floor. She was lying down on a pile of... something soft. She tried to look down but it hurt when she moved her head, so she felt what it was under her instead. It felt like... she would say sand, but it was too moist to be sand, and some pieces were larger then any piece of sand. So it had to be dirt. She felt to the left of her and she felt stone. She felt behind her and her hand met stone for a second time. She was in a corner.  
  
She blinked a few times, hoping to clear her vision. After a few minutes she was able to see that what she thought was the floor was really the ceiling. After a few more minutes she decided to try and turn her entire body around to see the entire room. On her second try she was able to move herself far enough to see the room that Liir and Dorothy had been living in for... how long did he say... four... five months?  
  
She scanned the room and saw everything pretty much the way she remembered it. Her eyes moved to the far right and she saw something. It was blurred so she couldn't make it out, but she knew it hadn't been there before. It was large, and next to where she was laying. She rubbed her eyes and realized that what she was looking at was Dorothy, a sleeping Dorothy.  
  
Nor swung her legs over the side of the dirt mound. She moaned, unable to stop herself. Her head hurt so much. Dorothy moved a bit but stayed asleep. She studied her. She looked peaceful just sleeping there. Nor didn't want to take that away from her so she tried to not make any more sound.  
  
She moved her head to see if Liir was in the room and a shock of pain coursed through her head. She stopped moving her head, finally learning that if she did, it would hurt, simple as that. She moved her hands to the back of her head to see how bad it was when her fingers felt cloth. It was bandage, a bandage that went all the way to around her head, like a headband. Forgetting the new rule she established in her head, she went to stand up but another pain erupted in her head so she sat back down with another longer, louder moan.  
  
Dorothy began to stir and soon her eyelids fluttered and opened. She looked to where Nor's head should have been and her eyes widened in panic. Then she saw that Nor was sitting up against the wall on her dirt mound. Dorothy stood up, "You should be resting!" The way she said it, it made Nor feel like a child again, being scolded by her mother for not doing the right thing.  
  
Dorothy moved over to where Nor was sitting and began to push her back down. Nor started to protest but Dorothy wouldn't hear of it. "You need rest or that gash on the back of your head won't ever heal. And if that happens then I won't be able to forgive myself for not doing everything in my power to make sure Liir's sister gets better! I mean what if it got infected and you died? Liir would never forgive me." Nor looked at her quizzically. How did she know she was Liir's sister? As if Dorothy read her mind she answered, "Liir told me, two days after you went unconscious. Don't worry, I had suspected as much. He told me he was going to find his family and then he started looking for you. He never said that you were family, I just didn't know you two were such a close relation. I thought you might have been a cousin or something."  
  
"Well, I'm really his half sister. We shared the same father." The words that Dorothy just said began to sink in to her. "Wait, how long have I been asleep?"  
  
"Three days."  
  
"Three days! Geez, it didn't seem that long." She heard her stomach grumble. "No wonder I'm so hungry."  
  
Dorothy went over to the table and rummaged through her books and papers. "Aha, I found it, I knew I put it somewhere." She came over to Nor holding a ripe, red, juicy looking apple. "This is for you," she said as she handed Nor the apple, "I don't need my magic classes anymore so we have extra money now from the work Liir has been doing. Enough to feed 3 people and a dog."  
  
Nor bit into the apple, it was like heaven. It was even juicier then she expected it to be, savory sour and sweet flavor moved across her tongue. She took another bite, and another. It tasted so good...she didn't remember how long it had been since she had an apple and this one moment made up for all those years of no apples. It was so good.  
  
"So, what have you been doing since I was asleep?" Nor inquired after she was half finished with the apple.  
  
"Oh, well Liir has been doing the usual. He goes to work usually when I am still asleep. I'm not sure exactly what time; he has never wakes me. He usually gets home towards the late afternoon, before the sun goes down."  
  
"And you?" Nor asked after taking a few more bits out of the apple. It tasted so good it must have come from heaven.  
  
Dorothy continued. "Usually I would go to magic classes for most of the time Liir is away, but since I don't need them anymore I stopped going. I've just been staying here with you most the time; I pretty much didn't leave your side in case you woke up. I only left for Liir or Toto."  
  
Nor was surprised at what she said, she had stayed by her the whole time. Nobody had cared for her that much, except of course of Mother, but that was pretty much something that was needed in the requirements of a Mother. Nobody had ever shown her that much worry or love on choice. Nor finished the apple and placed the apple down on her dirt mound. She was still hungry but she knew that they couldn't afford to feed her anymore. "You stayed by me? For three days? Why?!"  
  
Nor could see it on Dorothy's face that she was shocked by her words.  
  
"Well, I'm not really sure it's just... Whenever I was sick, Auntie Em always stayed by me until I got better. I thought it only right to show you the same care." Dorothy's words and her tone made it sound like it was the obvious choice.  
  
"It's just... nobody has ever really done that before, you know, stayed by me when I was sick. My mother didn't even, sure she checked up on me now and then, but mainly I was left alone..." Just then, because of what she saw, Nor knew that she and Dorothy were friends, best friends, no, closer then that. It was an unspoken connection but she knew that both of them knew it was there. Nor saw that Dorothy's dress was shorter then it was when they first met. Nor could see the edges were ripped and torn. Nor was wearing Dorothy's dress as a bandage... She cared that much. Nor was barely able to hold back tears, even then her eyes sparkled faintly. "Thank you, thank you for staying by me, and really caring about me... you're really the first."  
  
Dorothy's face lit up in compassion for Nor and they hugged. The hug didn't last long but it felt so good to have someone who really cared about you, and she had barely even known Dorothy. It was almost too good to be true. They both laughed... oh she hadn't laughed in so long and it felt so good. "So, what exactly is Liir's job?" Nor had heard so much about this job, she just needed to know.  
  
"Well, it's really just a physical labor job you know, lifting packages and all..." It turns out all Liir really did was unload packages of products from supply trucks into the stores that bought them. He would go to a center station every day and would receive a list of information to as where he would be working and what he would be unloading. Place and item changed every day, but he always did the work, because they needed the money too badly.  
  
The two girls just talked. They talked about everything that has happened to them in their past, the present, what might happen in the future. They talked about everything. It seemed to sooth Nor to have someone to talk to after so long, someone who understood what she was saying, and cared about the words that came out of her mouth. And it comforted her more just to care about what someone else said; to be able to care about someone else.  
  
They talked until they heard the sound of footsteps and the patter of small dog's paws from the alley outside. They knew that it was Liir and Toto. Liir had decided to take Toto with him everyday so that Dorothy didn't have to care for two living things, but they still only looked up when they both finally entered the room.  
  
The first thing Liir did was look over to the dirt mound on which Nor was sitting on, propped up in the corner. She had guessed that they had taken the dirt from the yards of the deserted buildings to make some sort of bed for her, something more comfortable then just lying on the floor, which in truth the dirt was actually more comfortable then hard, cold stone.  
  
He ran over to Nor, "You're finally awake." He said after he embraced Nor in a bone-crushing hug. "You had me worried there for a second, thought I would lose the rest of my family." He with a relieve smile on his face.  
  
Nor laughed, "You shouldn't have been worried, I was in good hands." She said as she looked over at Dorothy. Dorothy smiled and blushed, looking down on the floor.  
  
Nor realized something was different, something not necessarily wrong just, out of place. She looked around the room and her eyes stopped on that annoying excuse for a dog. Its mouth was moving as if it was "barking", but no sound was coming out. Liir obviously saw the puzzled expression on her face and answered the question going through her head. "Dorothy but a spell on him, it stops any sound coming from his mouth. Quite ingenious of her to think of really." Dorothy only blushed harder, more fiercely and kept her eyes on the floor. Nor looked at the annoying dog again. It was "barking" harder now, more of its body moved. It looked like a real idiot trying to bark and nothing coming out. It realized Nor was looking at it and it "barked" even harder now, so powerful that it managed to knock itself backwards onto the floor, Nor was enjoying this.  
  
"Ah do you hear that? Silence." They all laughed.  
  
After Dorothy's blushing fit subsided she got up and moved over to the other chair, next to the one Liir was sitting in. "How much money?" she asked. Nor saw Liir hand Dorothy a few of bills. She counted them and then pulled out a box that was tapped to the bottom of the table, out of site. Even Nor had missed seeing it. From the box she pulled a much larger amount of bills. Dorothy counted them all together and a look of delight crossed her face, "Liir, I think we have enough! Oh Liir, we have enough!"

OK now really if you READ REVIEW!!! im changing what i want before i write chap 6 now!!! i want 20!!! okkk so pleaaase REVIEW and tell all your frieeends... PLEAAASE!!!! that is if you like it... even if you don't like the fic REVIEW I DO NOT CAAARE!!!


	6. Chapter 6

Note: this is going to be the last one of the Nor POV for a bit... shes coming back don't worry... not telling whos next hehee I love the end of this chap though and if you do too review kk hehehe readddddd

Oh and thank you dear sweet editor of mine for continuing to stick by me through thick and thin... lol and woo i have a beta now lol thank you Daydreamer731 for being my beta... lol even though it was your idea... and you saying you wanted it and me just going with it but yea funnnn lol here it issss:

**Chapter 6**  
  
Dorothy and Liir jumped up and hugged each other in laughter and they kissed in a secret happiness. Dorothy couldn't stop smiling and laughing and looking at the money, neither could Liir. They just laughed together... smiling... hugging... kissing... in each other's arms... looking at the money... laughing... smiling... hugging...  
  
Meanwhile Nor was very confused, "Umm not to be intruding or anything," Nor said during another kiss between the two, "but what exactly do you have enough for?" She hadn't meant to plan her words so they intruded on their moment, but now that they did she was happy.  
  
Dorothy gazed into Liir's eyes a second longer then turned around to face Nor. "Well, ever since our escapade we knew that this wasn't going to be big enough for three people." Nor looked around the room and knew that Dorothy was right. "We also thought that we would all freeze to death when the winter came. It's coming close too, less then a month away." Nor knew she was right, even she couldn't deny feeling the chill that had creped in sometime during her slumber. "So Liir decided to do some research and find out how much the average room in the Emerald City went for. So we started to save up that much money, so that we could hopefully rent an apartment for the winter and we finally have enough." Dorothy and Liir looked so excited, Nor couldn't help but be excited too.  
  
"So when are you... we going to do this?" Nor needed to know, she was so excited!  
  
"Tomorrow." Answered Liir after he finished kissing Dorothy. "Tomorrow we will go out and find somewhere."  
  
That night everyone could barely go to sleep. Not because of the uncomfortably of three people sleeping in the same, cramped room, but because everyone was too excited to even close their eyes. Waiting impatiently for tomorrow to roll around and with it, bring the possibility of a new home. The anxiety was so strong you could almost reach out and know you are going to touch something. Eventually, though, they all feel asleep, one by one. Liir, Dorothy, then Nor. Right before Nor closed her eyes to welcome sleep she could have sworn she saw the figure of a white cat standing in the doorway.  
  
The next morning all Nor could think about was what was going to happen that afternoon. That's all anyone could think about. Liir wasn't going to work today, because it was a Sunday and he didn't work on Sundays. After they all shared a quiet breakfast with an air of unspoken excitement they began to pack what little possession they had. They were planning on leaving no matter what.  
  
Packing didn't take long; all they really had that they were taking with them was a bag full of books and the clothes on their back. They had everything set to leave, but it was still early so they decided to wait an hour before leaving. All three sat down at the now bare table and just stared at each other.  
  
Dorothy was the first to break the silence. "Nor, let me check how that gash you have is doing before we go." Nor nodded and turned around on her seat, having the back of her head face Dorothy.  
  
Nor could hear the sound of Dorothy's chair as she got up and walked over to her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the silent Toto who had given up on trying to bark and was dozing off under the table. Nor looked to where Liir was sitting and saw that he had gotten up as well and was pacing the room anxiously.  
  
Nor felt the bandage loosen as Dorothy untied it. After fiddling with the knot for what seemed like minutes Dorothy let the piece of her dress fall on the table. Nor felt Dorothy's fingers move her hair out of the way so she could have access to the wound. Sure enough after enough hair was moved out of the way Dorothy's fingers rested just around the place where Nor had hit her head.  
  
"Well, here's the good news, its not any worse." Dorothy said while she moved more hair out of the way.  
  
"And the bad news?" Nor interrupted.  
  
"Well, there really isn't bad news at all, except that it's not any better." Nor suddenly felt all her muscles relax and a breath she didn't know she had held she let out. She hadn't realized she had tensed up either, she really didn't think she had been that nervous about her "wound". She just supposed it was natural for somebody to be worried about something like this, which in truth, she knew it was.  
  
Dorothy went to tie the bandage back on her head when Nor heard her mumble about it being too dirty. Nor could hear Dorothy move her hands and start to rip her dress when Nor had to stop her. "No Dorothy, really, let me." And with that Nor ripped her clothes into a bandage to use for her head. She handed it to Dorothy and she tied it on without a protest.  
  
The hour passed slowly, very slowly. At one point it seemed like time had stopped, but then Nor realized that it was just Liir's pacing that had stopped. Liir turned around and stared at the two girls, both of which were near falling back asleep. "Well, its time to go now..." Liir said with not much enthusiasm.  
  
Dorothy looked at him with a stare of disbelief and happiness all mixed together. She got up and went to go pick up the sack of her magic writing but Liir got to the bag first. He picked it up and put it over his shoulder, making It look effortless. Dorothy mumbled her thanks and she went to wake up Toto and they went off.  
  
Before they left the room though Liir stopped them and pointed to the dog. "They'll notice when he's not barking, you have to undo the spell Dorothy." Nor let out a soft moan but decided that it would be for the better. Dorothy mumbled a few words and the dog didn't bark all at once. Nor hoped that it hadn't noticed the lifting of the spell and that it still thought it couldn't make a sound. Then she realized that she had looked at the annoying ball of raggedy fur and it started to yip at her. She rolled her eyes and took off out of the room with Dorothy and Liir and that spawn-of- evil dog.  
  
The afternoon progressed just as slowly as the morning. They had visited all of the apartment buildings that were in the worse shape and a room would go for the least, but the people renting the rooms were convinced that they could rip of a bunch of kids and sell it for way over the price of its value. They had progressed from the should-be-cheapest places in the Emerald City and moved on to the buildings in the Middle Class buildings. And they too thought they could rip of a bunch of children. Finally they moved into Upper Class Emerald City, a place where they knew they couldn't find anything but had no choice but to try. People in expensive clothes were lining the streets. Women with shopping bags filled to the rim and large men wearing the finest suits money could buy. There were stores lining the crowded streets with a bustle of people coming in and out. Display cases showed the most gorgeous things, the most expensive. The buildings weren't short and crumbling and old either. They were new, tall, shiny, well maintained buildings. Each a more vibrant green then the next and each shining in the afternoon sun. This was Upper Class Emerald City.  
  
Nor though was being a little bit pessimistic. "We will never in a million years be able to rent a room anywhere in this area of the Emerald City. Especially at the rate they are increasing how much they are asking for since we are so young, they think they can just rob us blind." Nor had been through this with them already when they had first entered Upper Class Emerald City. Dorothy and Liir just ignored her though. They ignored her as fiercely as she ignored that rat dog that was trailing behind Nor, yipping its heart away. Nor had thought about picking up the dog and throwing it in front of a moving carriage several times. Although she was restraining herself from actually carrying out with her dreams of dog murder she still had to manage to ignore the thing to some degree.  
  
As Dorothy and Liir turned a corner Nor could hear their laughter and whispering. They had been like that all day, extremely and utterly sappy. It was the main reason why she was trailing behind them so far. It was paining her to listen to everything that they said. As she turned the corner that Dorothy and Liir had seconds before Nor could see them again, Liir's arm over her shoulder and her, unreceptively close to him. Normally things like a kiss or an intimate hug didn't bother Nor. But she had soon discovered that incessant sappiness did. She really felt sick just looking at them, she turned around and there was the dog. She was trapped, "I think I'm gonna hurl." Nor said, though a little too loud.  
  
"What was that?" Liir asked turning around, obviously hearing Nor say something.  
  
"Oh just that I'm happy you've found a girl." Nor improvised.  
  
Liir smiled and turned back to Dorothy. She almost said "Gag me with a spoon" but she caught herself in time, she wasn't sure she could improvise quick enough for that one.  
  
They tried every building they came across and continuously after each one the price was steadily increasing. It was almost dark too; they had spent the entire day wandering through the Emerald City looking for something that wasn't there, a place where they could rend a room for its actual value. To top it off Nor's feet hurt, they had really been walking all day; they didn't even stop for food. And to put an emphasis on that though Nor's stomach growled loudly. "Come on guys," she whined, "We won't be able to make it back before dark and we won't be able to find a room before dark, lets just go back." She had complained and complained all day and none of it worked, she didn't expect it to work now. And it didn't  
  
"Look," Liir said, pointing to a building with its top ending in the canopy of the tower jungle that was the Emerald City. "We will head back after that one, ok?"  
  
"Fine." Nor agreed through clenched teeth. She looked at the building some more, it was extremely tall. It looked very expensive as well. It was, of course, the vibrant green that the majority of the buildings in the Emerald City were. When the light hit the tower, it sparkled in a million different places, giving off a green sparkle that contrasted beautifully with the purple and red sunset in the background. Nor had to squint to continue to look at the building the glare was so bright. She looked at all the surrounding buildings too, each just as tall, but very unique. They were all a sparkling green. It was all so beautiful; it looked like a giant field of emerald grass blades. And she was an ant, traveling beneath the overgrown stalks of emerald.  
  
She was so awestruck she almost missed the building all together, but luckily she came-too before she had walked far enough to not be able to differentiate between each building. She went to go to where Dorothy and Liir were walking but her eyes caught a glimpse of white moving off to the side of the road. Nor stopped and looked at where she had thought to see it, but there was nothing there. She discarded it as her eyes malfunctioning from staring at the light too long. She walked up to Dorothy and Liir, they were standing in front of the building. "Why are you just standing there?" Nor asked, speaking her mind.  
  
"Well, the doors are locked, I think that its past the time that they allow people in. And the windows are tinted so I can't see in to tell if there is anyone there that can open the door."  
  
Nor sighed, "Well then I suppose we have to head back t-"  
  
Dorothy cut her off. "Wait, someone's coming!" Dorothy exclaimed with her face up against the window with her hands to the side of her face to hope to maybe see through the tainted windows.  
  
As soon as Dorothy spoke these words the door opened and an old lady came out. Dorothy pulled away from the window and stopped the woman before she could get fully out of the door. "Hi, we were wondering if we could maybe talk to the owner of the building, or someone that represents him, because we would like to see if we could possibly rent a room." Right when the woman opened the door Toto began to yip incessantly at the woman. But when the dog leaned over to smell the woman it let out a high pitched yip and looked away from her.  
  
The old lady remained silent, ignoring the antics of the fool dog. She just stood in the doorway, studying Dorothy. "Why yes of course dear, yes, yes. Just go over to the man at the both, he can tell you everything." She said in a voice that Nor thought truly belonged to a witch.  
  
"Thank you very much," Dorothy exclaimed. "You don't know how much this means." Dorothy went to go into the building but the old lady grabbed her before she could go in.  
  
"One more thing dearie." The old lady said to Dorothy. Dorothy didn't even try to struggle from the lady's grip. "Which is..."  
  
She pulled Dorothy closer to her, their faces almost touching. She spoke in a whisper that only the four of them could hear, a whisper of the most bone shivering voice Nor had ever heard. "Tell him that Mother Yackle sent you."


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: hmm well this chapter took very... very... very long... only because the god damn description I mean seriously... that's all this chapter is... description... I personally think its nice description (you better think so too!!) and I sorta had to leave off at a cliffy or it would have been very... very long no like at size verdana 8 it would have taken over 3 pages and I really try not to do that long so I split the chaps... so this chap is the introduction to the chapter I had planned and chapter 8 will be the actual chapter I had planned lol... ok now there are two umm weird things with this chapter lol here they are:  
  
- There is a new moon five days after a full moon... for those of you who don't know astronomy this is not supposed to happen but I don't care cause I need it that way... the lunar calendar of Oz can be strange... they never really mention it so I AM making it strange  
  
- I sorta gave the Vinkus a very... very low population of 11000 – 12000 people... and you know what! It's the Vinkus and not a lot of people live there so its right!  
  
Yes these are the weird things ok so now on to the fic:  
  
Lol on to the fic in a sec... I am going to thank both of them in all chapters now... thank you Amy for editing and thank you michelle for betaing... is that a word... no cause word says its not and for editing a biiit (sry amy you weren't on to get a full go at it.. i had changed a bit hehe)... lol anyway finally here is the fic:

**Chapter 7**  
  
The sunset, glowing purple and red upon the sapphire sky; an endless blue plain interrupted only by a few wispy clouds, came to its end the ominous towers fell into a sleep. The green sparkling glow of the emerald towers died with the sunset. As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon the moon rose; a moon the eyes of the Emerald City were blind to see. The moon rose dark and invisible against the endless black of the night sky. Not a single star's light shed through to the Emerald City during the dark of the night.  
  
It was a night of silence and blindness that had come had settled upon the city of emeralds. It was a night of which no humans could remain awake in. A night on which no animals would remain awake. A night with only the movement of white, glowing fur dodging through the canopy of the jungle of emerald towers. The white fur was defying the darkness that had conquered the entire city. White fur with a pair of ruby, red eyes glowing in the night.  
  
The darkness touched far past the Emerald City, ending only after the Kellswater. Even if the night was illuminated and the light reached down to the Kellswater, not a single sparkle of the light would be reflected in the gray water. A leaf from a nearby, dying tree fell into the black water. It didn't send out any ripples, it didn't move the water at all, the leaf simply sunk on contact. It fell down to the bottom of the lake as fast as you would expect a large rock to in normal water, but this water wasn't normal. It was dead.  
  
In the distance the stars began to come out few by few, each floating high above the land of Oz. The Great Kells, growing tall in the distance. Snow capped mountains reaching massive heights, each reaching up into the night sky, longing to touch the stars. The sky lightened to a dark blue as the towering brown mountains continued to grow out of the ground, seeming to go on forever. The chain finally broke in the south, it broke into a pass of towering pines, and it broke into Kumbricia's Pass.  
  
Small, white flakes of frozen water fell slowly to the ground of the pass. Each flake was different then the one that fell before it, each one unique. The snow began to settle in the tops of the pine trees first, next the lower branches of the trees, and lastly the ground. The layer of snow grew to ankle level while the first rays of a new dawn reached the pass. As the morning light hit the land it began to sparkle in its covering of the first snow. The trees and ground sparkled in the silence of the land. It was a silence born from the natural sleep of the world. The snow dissipated and was left untouched by humans and animals alike. As the trees began to dwindle and the height of the snow lowered the pass opened up more and more. The trees started to give way and soon disappeared completely as the pass ended and the Thousand Year Grasslands began.  
  
A plain of tall, emerald green grass the stretched as far as the eye could see made up the Thousand Year Grasslands. As the sun began to rise fully above the horizon Kumbricia's Pass freshly snowed, sparkling in the distance. The Great Kells could be seen to the east, the mountains acquired a violet shade while in shadow. The majesty and size of the mountains decreased as distance away from them increased, but their ever- looming figures were still perceivable. The Lesser Kells could be made out faintly to the south. The rounded tops of the giant hills were just visible below the thin layer of cloud cover.  
  
The grasslands were just that, grass. The green stalks grew from the ground to reach heights of over four feet. The morning dew still clung to the overgrown grass, sparkling in the sunlight like small diamonds. The jade grass grew seemingly endlessly in all directions, almost completely undisturbed. The usual tribal fires of the Winkie tribal fires were gone. In their place was a massive pillar of heavy, dark gray smoke. The smoke could be seen when entering the grasslands. It only grew larger and larger. It was a smoke created by the combination of numerous fires lit in a colossal gathering of the Winkie Tribes.  
  
With one look at the camp it would be perceived as that of the Scrow. The encampment was on Scrow land and the tents were aligned in the circular pattern found in any Scrow camp. But after taking a closer look one would notice that it was a camp of all the three Winkie Tribes. It was a congregation of enormous numbers. The light brown cotton tents of the Arjiki made up the first few of the large circles that held all of the other hundreds... thousands of tents. The warriors' tents took up the first circle and the seniors, women, and children took up the tents behind those of the Arjiki warriors. In total there were about one thousand Arjiki people. Each person was dark of skin and most wearing clothes of common brown cotton. Few of the Arjiki wore silks and only three were tattooed.  
  
Behind the tents of the Arjiki tribe were the tents of the Yunamata tribe. The Yunamata tents were a light yellow, made out of dried stalks of grass. Each piece of grass used to make the tents must have been ten feet and over to have created such tents. The Yunamata had five times the amount of tents as the Arjiki. The tents were set up differently then the Arjiki. Their people lived in each row, but every other tent was that of a warrior. In all there were over five thousand Yunamata people, each somewhat resembling the people of Quadling Country, all except skin color. The Yunamata people had the skin color of a dark tan, not nearly as dark as the Arjiki.  
  
After the tents of the Yunamata came the tents of the sand colored tents of the Scrow. The amount of Scrow tents and people was equal to that of the Yunamata. The tents of the Scrow were set up like the Arjiki. The only difference was the best and most trusted fighters inhabited the ring of tents closest to the center. Though the numbers of the Scrow and Yunamata were equal, the appearance of the two was distinctly different. The Scrow were people with large noses and large waists with the skin color of a slight pink, though not as rosy as the skin of Quadlings.  
  
At the center of all the tents were two tents, each just outside the center of all the tent-circles. The largest tent was made of white silk. Though the tent was too large to be called a tent, a mansion of fabric. It was a mansion where the leader of the Scrow lived, Princess Nastoya.  
  
The next largest tent was made of dark brown, almost red, cotton and was the size of a rather large house. This tent was home to the leader of the Yunamata people and his family, his son. The leader went by the name of Jahyahl. He was an old man, one that had grown to the age of seventy- three. The last time he left his home was to lead his people to this spot, the place where the tribes were meeting. Ever since the trip he never left his tent and had to be attended by servants constantly. His son was at the age of twenty, his name was known to be Temai. He went everywhere, did everything the ruler of the Yunamata tribe was expected to. He ruled while his father was in the horrible condition he was in. He did not wish for the death of his father so that power would move down to him, he was scared of ruling. He had only a taste of what it was like to rule his people while his father couldn't and to be honest, he wasn't sure he could handle it all.  
  
The final and smallest tent was made of cotton as well and was died a deep blue. The tent belonged to the Arjiki people, it was a tent for the ruler of the tribe. The tent was unpopulated and empty. There was no ruler of the Arjiki tribe.  
  
Past the encampment of the three tribes, a camp larger then the size of a town and holding over eleven thousand people, there was a path. It was a path that wound through the tall grass of the Thousand Year Grasslands. The path takes an hour ride by camel to reach the end.  
  
Where the path disappeared a ring of trees began. Past the first ring of trees there were other rings, rings of tees and other shrubbery. Many rings of greenery made up the Scrow shrine. The greenery followed the same pattern as the tents did, each ring lined with posts holding unlit torches. At the center of the rings was an enclosed shrine made completely of greenery. It was a large shrine, the same size of the Yunamata's leader's tent. The shrine was completely enclosed, or so it appeared. Even with careful study and observation the shrine still looked completely closed off from the outside world. But it wasn't. If someone didn't know where the wooden door was, you could never find it. It was camouflaged to look just like the rest of the trees, to look like just part of the shrine. The door didn't even have metal hinges, they were hinges of strong, durable vine. Only two people knew where the door was located and those two people were inside.  
  
A ball of magicked fire came flying at Elphaba's face. She dropped immediately to the hard dirt ground of the shrine. The magicked fire dissipated before it hit the wall of trees that made up the Scrow shrine. She rolled over to her right to avoid more magicked fire heading towards her. The fire slammed into the dirt floor and disappeared. She felt her side hit a wall of trees behind her. Scrambling to her knees she grabbed a branch and jumped up into the air while pulling herself over the branch. Her feet swung forward bringing her entire bdoy over the branch. During midswing when her body was in a position she was straight upside-down with her legs straight over her head. She brought her knees in and her feet both landed on the branch, one in front of the other. She flung her hands out to keep her balance as she landed. She brought her face up and looked straight out and saw that three magicked fireballs were soaring through the air towards her.

REVIEW


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: lol I have chaaaanged the type of my fic to Drama/Angst since michelle knows what I have planned and says that it can't not be angst sooo... Just wanted to bring that to your attention.

thanx to my beta and my editor...

**Chapter 8**  
  
Elphaba jumped, trying to reach a higher branch, but her fingertips just brushed the bottom of the branch looming above her. When she landed back on the tree limb her foot slipped and she fell backwards, arms and legs flying in every which direction. She fell just in time, the magicked fire zoomed just past her stomach and disappeared before hitting the tree on which she was standing. Elphaba landed on her back, knocking all the wind out of her. Her lungs were gaping for air but she saw more fire being flung at her and she laboriously pushed herself up off of the ground and started run again, looking or a place to go. She was in the middle of the shrine, somehow or someway she always wound up in the middle, this was how she always lost. Trapped, not knowing which way to go, that was how it always was, every day since she was taken to the tribal encampment.

"Oh, will this nightmare never end," Elphaba heard Dorothy scream. The fire was climbing up her clothes, lighting her on fire. Elphaba saw the girl grab a bucket of water. "I will save you!" Before Elphaba could say anything to stop her, the water was flying through the air towards her burning form.  
  
She felt the water, like fire, splash across her face and her exposed hands. She shrieked in pain, oh how it burned. Flashes of people in her past and present came and went through her head. She opened her eyes to try and see something before she stopped existing, if exist she ever did. It hurt everywhere so much; she fell to the floor, her body rigid in pain. When she regained her vision to some extent she saw that she was in her tower and the girl was nowhere. The pain was getting worse, much worse it was all she could feel. The water was trickling over her entire body, she looked down expecting to see her burning clothes but she saw that she was naked and the water from her face and hands was spreading across her exposed form. The pain reached a point past overwhelming and she blacked out.  
  
She woke up with her entire body stinging in the memory of the water all over her body. It as gone now but it didn't stop her entire body from hurting. She didn't know how long it was since the incident and she didn't care. She was alive. Well, as alive as she ever was. She starting moving, her muscles aching with pain with every small movement. She started moving more and more, getting used to the small amount of pain. She eventually worked her muscles enough to stand up, and sure enough she was in her tower, naked. She shivered, her bare skin goose bumped against a non- existent chill.  
  
"How-" she started in a croak of a voice but her lungs forced her to cough. "How did I get here?" She finished, thinking out loud. She let out a few raspy coughs and tried to actually walk. She moved one leg and pain coursed through it but she just put it down and then picked up the other and walked, each step more painful then the last. She finally reached her trunk, legs flaming with pain. She knelt down in front of it; fell down was more like it. She reached in and took out a black robe. She put it on and forced herself to get up again, her body wavered but she stayed standing up on her feet, she needed to get down the stairs and find out what had happened.  
  
After a few minutes and a lot of wincing Elphaba made it down the stairs. While traveling through Kiamo Ko she noticed that everyone had left, including the flying monkeys. She wondered where they could have possibly gone until she made it to the room where Dorothy threw the water on her. In the center of the room was her hat sitting atop a pile of damp clothes. Whatever happened, happened right after the first of the water touched her. That must be why I'm not dead, she thought, only a little of the water touched me. She didn't know how she got from there to her tower... _But how... magic?_ _I can't do magic... then how?_ Elphaba didn't know what else to think, and she didn't have time either.  
  
Just then she heard a number of footsteps enter Kiamo Ko. She didn't know who they could be but she ran up to her tower to try and maybe get a glimpse of who they were from her window. When she made it to her tower her legs were on fire, screaming for her to stop moving but she ignored them. She looked out of the window in her tower to see five Vinkus men outside. She couldn't see what tribe they were from... it looked like all three, but how could that be? Just then she heard her door slammed open, all thoughts of the three tribes being together left her. She turned to see a Yunamata warrior, by the looks of the way dressed he was high up in social standings, of around the age twenty.  
  
The man stopped and stared at her, Elphaba couldn't read his face; he had left it surprisingly blank. "So you are alive." He said in the Vinkus vernacular.  
  
Elphaba just stared at him, "If I wasn't then how am I standing here right now." She replied flatly in the same language. "Now what I would like to know is, who are you and why are you in my home." The mystery man remained silence and just stared at Elphaba with that unreadable expression stuck on his face. She stared at him back, studying him. He himself had all the looks of a Yunamata; the pink tinge to his skin, his thing lips, his brown eyes. They only thing non-Yunamata thing about him was his hair color. Usually the Yunamata had short dark brown hair to contrast with their light pink skin. But he had light, sandy brown hair that reached below his eyes. His bangs were hanging in front of his silent, unreadable face. She stood their, arms crossed beneath her chest, forcing herself to stay on her feet and stare him down. They were both equally stubborn to not look away. This was becoming exasperating and pointless. "You do realize that you are breaking and entering, I will get the Gale Forcers over here and arrest you if you don't answer my questions." She lied in a stern tone, but she could tell that he knew she was lying.  
  
To Elphaba's surprise the man answered her questions. "My name is Temeai, son of Jahyahl, ruler of the Yunamata." He told her in a medium pitched voice, a voice that had a quality to it that he had more experiences then someone his age would normally have. It was a voice that only the great rulers possessed. He continued, "The reason I am here is to find you."  
  
"Find me? You want to find me to...?  
  
"To bring you back to the encampment." He finished.  
  
Elphaba stared at him, raising an eyebrow. "You mean you came here to find me and take me back to your encampment?" He nodded, "What is this some treasure hunt; whoever finds the Witch first wins a prize? Just follow the trail of flying monkeys to the haunted castle. What? Green marks the spot! Extra points if you manage to land a house on her head!"  
  
Temeai moved forward, hands waving in front of him and his head shaking. "No, that's not what I meant, what I mean is we came here to tel-... ask you to come back to the encampment with us. The Princess Nastoya and my father sent us to bring you back so they could talk with you."  
  
"Do you know why they want to talk to me?"  
  
"No, they did not tell me, all they said was to find you and bring you back."  
  
Elphaba wasn't sure why they wanted her but it must be at least a little urgent. "I will go with you and you can take me to them."  
  
"When were you not going to come?" Elphaba scowled at him. Temeai just turned around, with a faint smile on his face and started calling to his comrades who, Elphaba supposed, were searching all of Kiamo Ko to find her.  
  
"No!" She screamed as she ran towards him, her legs failed beneath her, taking the rest they wanted from her by force. Elphaba cursed herself again and more violently at her ever-expanding stupidity and her stubbornness against not sitting down. She went to stand up but her leg muscles were aflame with pain and she couldn't manage it.  
  
Temeai ran over to her when he realized she had fallen. "I'll call some of my men, they can carry you."  
  
"No, Temeai, no, they can't know I'm alive, nobody but you, me, your father, and princess Nastoya can know. Don't call them." She said, trying again to stand up, failing miserably. _Oh great, I've fallen and I can't get up._ He looked at her with a puzzled expression, "I can't tell you why now but I will when we reach the encampment."  
  
"I won't tell them, but how am I going to get you from here to the encampment without them knowing you're alive?"  
  
She had anticipated this, "Go over to my trunk over there." She said pointing to where her trunk was in the corner. "There is a black shawl in there, give it to me... please." She added a little to late, but he obliged all the same. When he gave her the shawl she placed it on her head like the mountain women of the Vinkus did, over their head, covering her face.  
  
"Oh," He said realizing her plan.  
  
"Now you can go get me that glove" He went to go get the one glove she was pointing to. "Now go get the other." She said pointing him in the same direction. He went to go say something to her but stopped himself and followed her orders silently. After the gloves she sent him to get her boots, one at a time.  
  
After she finished putting her boots on she could hear footsteps outside the door. She immediately brought down the shawl that she had flung up so that she could get her gloves and boots on. She heard Temeai leaving the room and entering again with the sound of more footsteps other then his own.  
  
"Well, there seems to be no Witch." He said to the men, "But I found a stranger here in the Witch's tower. I believe that she is a mountain woman. It seems that she has unfortunately injured her legs, in some way, and is unable to walk. I think we should take her back to the Princess Nastoya and Jahyahl, they might want to question her on her unlikely appearance at the scene where the Witch lived her last minutes." Elphaba could hear the men agreeing with their superior. She could hear footsteps coming towards her; she hoped that they were going to carry her the entire way; it might not be so bad if she didn't have to walk. "No, she will not want you two carry her." She heard Temeai tell them and the footsteps stopped. "You see I can tell by her dress that she is in fact of high nobility and my father taught me some of the mountain people's ways. He told me that the nobility takes offense if people of lower standings then themselves touch them. I believe I am the only one of equal or higher nobility so I will have to carry her." Elphaba went to go tell him that it was ok and they could carry her but he stopped her.  
  
"Unfortunately she doesn't understand a word of our language so she cannot tell us if this is actually of their ways. So just to be safe we will have to go with what my father has told me" Elphaba stared at him in a fury, sending him death glares from beneath her shawl, death glares that nobody could see. "Tell the others to gather at the front gate, I will meet you there." Instructed Temeai. Soon after his words Elphaba heard a shuffling of feet and all was silent.  
  
She heard him walking towards her and he stopped. She peeked from beneath her shawl and saw him crouching in front of her. "You have to be kiddi-"  
  
"Shh you don't understand our language, remember oh great mountain princess? My men are spread throughout this entire building, if one of them hears the voice of a woman speaking our language they will get suspicious. Now climb on my shoulders so I can carry you, you do want to be carried don't you? Because if you don't I can let you walk, its only a little over ten miles from here to the encampment I'm sure you can make it."  
  
Without responding Elphaba crawled forward, looking through a small opening she created in her shawl so she could see. She placed one leg over each shoulder, kicking each heel hard into his chest, and sat down at the base of his neck. He rose without pause or strain, almost throwing her entire off. She had to hold his head to stay on. After a very bumpy ride down the stairs they made it outside to the gates.  
  
"The Witch is not here," She heard Temeai announce, "Though we have found this mountain woman to bring back to the Princess Nastoya and Jahyahl, she might know something about where the Witch is. Lets head back, but to make it a challenge, let's see if anyone an beat me there while I'm carrying her?" Why was he challenging them to a race? She heard the murmurs of the other men accepting Temeai's challenge. "Ok it's settled and whoever beats me will receive an achievement medal and maybe an increase in rank." All around she heard people murmuring, pleased with the reward. "Ok, it's settled then, on your marks, get set, go!" She heard the sounds of a maybe twenty... thirty men running along with Temeai.  
  
She soon realized exactly why Temeai challenged them to a race. **bump bump bump bump bump **She clung to him, afraid of falling off. "Oh," **bump** "you" **bump** "will" **bump** "pay" **bump** "for" **bump** "this!" She hissed in his ear.  
  
"I'm sorry did you say something princess, I'm afraid I couldn't hear you."  
  
She grumbled and pulled her head away from his ear and clutched around his neck, hoping that she didn't slip go flying from is back. Soon the rhythmic movements of Temeai's steady running brought her into a daze. She felt herself drifting off and she couldn't fight it. Her muscles had finally relaxed and wouldn't listen to her. She felt her eyes close and sleep overtook her. 


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: hehehe ok this actually took me a really long time to write... I don't kno why... it just did lol hope you like it really... three certain paragraphs in this thing took me a day to write and edit all by myself sooo I hope you likey! Ok im not going to mention them each chapter now because it is becoming very redundant! But thanx to my editor and my beta you two ROCK!

**Chapter 9**  
  
When Elphaba finally woke up she was lying on a bed of silk sheets. She yawned, stretching out her arms and fingers as wide as they would go. She blinked her eyes and took in the room around her. She was in a room made of white silk, a room completely bare except for the bed. She swung her legs over the side of the small bed and stood up continuing to survey the room. Her legs were stiff from the pain they had experienced... she didn't know how long ago. Now, at least they don't hurt; she took a step forward, as much.  
  
As she was standing up she felt a cool breeze flow through a flap that was in the place of a door, it felt good in the hot room. She felt the breeze everywhere... everywhere? She looked down and realized that she was almost completely naked. All she was a black, short, sleeveless, silk nightgown. Short didn't cover the length of the thing; if she were to stand in any direction but straight anybody who just so happened to walk by that flap would be able to have a very good glimpse at her.  
  
She jumped back into her bed, pulling the covers over her, making sure that nothing was being revealed. She was now in fear that a flock of men would just come waltzing by and look through the flap and stare at her revealed form. She looked desperately around the room for her clothes. After scanning the entire room to no success she began to panic. She couldn't possibly show herself in this thing! It would be demeaning and inappropriate.  
  
Several more times she searched the room with her eyes until she finally looked at the foot of her tiny bed and saw a small pile of clothing. She picked them up and realized that they weren't hers, they were made of silk; a material Elphaba had never worn in her life. They were just like the clothes she had worn there, black and everything, there was just one difference; they were made of an extremely higher quality. She didn't care if they were her own or not, they were a gift from above, a personal savior, and the only other clothing in the room. She put all the clothes on underneath the silk sheets, not daring to get out under the covers in the poor excuse for clothing she was wearing.  
  
After she was done putting the clothing on she got out of the bed once again, her legs a little less stiff than before. Elphaba had realized that there were actually two different sets of clothes while she was putting them on, but she didn't stop from putting them all on. She had learned something long ago and it was something that she lived by, there was safety in layers.  
  
She felt much better having proper clothing on and exited the room, looking for somebody who might tell her where she was. When she went through the flap she gazed in wonder at the largest, most beautiful room she had ever seen in her life. It also looked like the most expensive.  
  
The most prominent valuable noticeable was the Quadling glass. Everywhere she looked she saw what seemed like hundreds of small designs created out of the fragile material. Each glass object was a different color, shades not even a rainbow could produce. They sparkled faintly in the light of the room, showering the walls of the room with every facet of any color imaginable. Elphaba looked up and gasped in wonder; dangling from the ceiling by strings of various lengths were balls of colored glass, each with a candle inside them. The balls of glass were like shining stars, floating above the world casting angelic rays of colored light down into the room. A breeze came through the room and Elphaba smelled a variety of soothing and relaxing scents, she guessed the candles were scented. She took in the aromas and she felt her entire body relax, it felt so good to finally truly relax. As the breeze blew, the hanging glass balls swung faintly with the wind. They created shadows that danced across the room giving Elphaba the sense that there were magical creatures about, flying around the room, ducking behind objects whenever her eyes would land on them. The colored light a hand of a god gracing the walls of the tent, enchanting the walls, turning the white into a collage of color. The light showered the entire room in colors that blended into each other so perfectly Elphaba was overwhelmed with the beauty.  
  
She looked at a glass decoration near her and realized precious gems were in the glass. The priceless rocks were each more rare and expensive then the next. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires... all of them embedded in the glass, both sparkling mystically in the light. The breeze began to blow in a different direction and the candles produced the same colored rays of light but different. They had metamorphosed into a different pattern, equally as magnificent as before. Delicate curves of light filled her vision; alone each beam of light was a spectacle. But together, they were waves in an ocean of colors.  
  
She took a step forward and felt something light brush against her body. She looked closer and saw that there were strings, near invisible, hanging from the ceiling as well. Each clear string suspended a single colored jewel. Elphaba took another step and stopped, overcome with the new splendor of the room. At a different angle, Elphaba could see the strings taking in the light of the candles and turning the color of the gem it held. It looked as if pure beams of color were raining from the ceiling, beams of heavenly light cascading upon the land below. She felt a light breeze caress her face and the strings danced in the wind, more gracefully than any living being could.  
  
Elphaba stretched out her hand as to try and touch the light. Despite her green skin her hand changed colors along with the light. She stretched out her fingers and moved them up and down, watching the green skin change.  
  
"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Elphaba turned around sharply to where she heard the voice and faced Princess Nastoya. She had overlooked her completely; her eyes had been too caught up with the room. She was wearing white and sitting on the edge of her bed, another item she had missed while scanning. "Did I scare you?"  
  
Elphaba just noticed how tense she had become and forced herself to relax, "No, you did not _scare_ me."  
  
Princess Nastoya smiled, "People usually don't notice me," she said, ignoring the answer Elphaba had just given her, "A reason why I like this room so much."  
  
"Oh..." Elphaba gasped, "I'm sorry." She said while dropping to her knees and brought her head to the floor, remembering her last experiences with the Princess.  
  
"None of that. Get up get up. There is no need for that now." Elphaba obliged and rose to her feet, slowly, giving the princess a questioning look. "Later, later." She said, answering the unspoken questions running through Elphaba's head. "Now come sit and we can talk." Nastoya said while pointing to a seat at the side of the bed she was sitting in.  
  
Elphaba walked over to the chair and made herself comfortable. She decided to see if the Princess would answer at least some of her questions. "I was told you wanted to speak with me..."  
  
The Princess nodded, "Yes we have, but that is also an issue better left to discuss later. All of your questions that can be answered will be answered, but in good time, first we must focus on right now. I believe that you should get settled here, but to do this there must be proper arrangements."  
  
"By arrangements, what do you mean?  
  
"Arrangements to make you feel at home here." Elphaba stared at her. She hadn't thought she would be staying a lengthy amount of time that there would need to be, what Nastoya called, arrangements. "What, did you think that you would be staying here uncomfortable?"  
  
"How long will I be staying here... Princess?" she added a little too late.  
  
"You may call me Nastoya instead if you so wish. I get tired of the title, its rather boring. And as to how long you are staying, that subject will be discussed..." Elphaba suddenly looked a little hopeful, "What you thought I would say 'now'? Have you not noticed a trend? Here I thought that you were an intelligent woman. You questions will be discussed _later_ ." Elphaba scowled but Nastoya showed no signs of having seen. "Now, Temeai has informed me that you have chosen the guise of a Mountain Princess, hmm?  
  
"I don't think that 'chosen' would be the term I would use. 'Left- with-no-other-choice' would be the words I would use." Nastoya looked at her funny... was that a smirk? She was _smirking_ at her! "What else did he tell you?"  
  
The Princess Nastoya was too busy making her bed and didn't hear her, though Elphaba thought she was just choosing not to answer. "Now that you are pretending to be a Mountain Princess, you need to appear to be one. Basically you will need the clothes. You will also need to learn the language. You will need to learn their traditions, their culture..." The list went on and on. Nastoya finally finished after Elphaba had successfully forgotten the first few things she said. "Don't worry. If you don't remember, I have had everything prepared for you." Elphaba began to think that Nastoya could actually read minds. She got off the bed and knelt down in front of a trunk at the foot of her bed. "Here," She said, handing Elphaba some clothes and a book, "this will get you started, it's a book about the culture and lives of the Mountain people and some traditional Mountain royalty clothes, which I made myself. Dress yourself in them and read the entire book and then you may leave my tent but not before you read the book, understand?" Elphaba nodded, resisting her was like trying to push a mountain. "Now I must leave you, I have daily duties that cannot be ignored. You may stay in this room or the one you awoke in, this room is now yours, nobody is allowed to come into either." Nastoya finished, when she reached another flap that Elphaba guessed led into another room that would eventually lead outside. Then without a word between the two Nastoya exited through the flap, leaving Elphaba alone holding some odd-looking clothes and a rather large book.  
  
Sighing, Elphaba walked to the flap where she had come in from, for some reason staying in Nastoya's room for too long gave her a strange feeling; she didn't think she'd be comfortable enough to read such a long book in the room. Before she left she turned around to gaze at the room. From where she was standing she couldn't see the clear strings, so she moved until she was able to see the entire room at its best. She held out her hand again, the color of her skin changing with the color of the light. It was the first time in her life where she wanted to wear white. She longed to be a part of the room, longed to just fade away in the background and have people overlooking her like she did Nastoya. Everything in the room was one, one being, one entity, and one wonder. Elphaba's eyes searched the room, looking to see if there were any surprises but instead her eyes landed on the clothes she was wearing, black. She brought her hand down and brought it to her side, retracting her hands inside her sleeves. It wasn't her place to just be part of something; she would stand out always no matter what she did. And with that she left the room, a black speck in the middle of a rainbow.

First five people to review get.... NIGHTMARE IDINA PLUSHIES!!! Fully equipped with super nightmare biting action and wing sprouting command NOTE: special nightmare idina plushie food is not included, do not give to children under three, if idina gets mad run or face her wrath, we are not liable for any injuries


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Ok this chapter is really long because I was really procrastinating to write it and when I did it just opened the floodgates. I could make this chapter two but I want it to be a big fat one cause it finally gets out of the flashback whew I know it took long enough didn't it! Lol ok and thanx to amy for editing and thanx to michelle for betaing... cause, you know, you guys actually did stuff this chapter lol.

Plushie Orders: yes the plushies came inn lol come here to pick emm uppp come one come allll!!! Order #1: 1 Nightmare Idina Plushie for my eeeeditor. Order #2: 1 Nightmare Idina Plushie for animeluvr1. Order #3 Ordinary Idina Plushie for lira. Order #4: 1 Nightmare Idina Plushie for mo. Order #5: 1 Nightmare Idina Plushie for Nessa. Sry michelle you didn't get one cause you dissed the Nightmare Idina Plushies and they didn't want one to go to you ;p deal with it

And now without further a do the fiiiiiic:

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**Chapter 10**

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It had been two hours after dark when Elphaba finally finished the book on the Mountain people. It had been a simple book that just went into their history and the way they lived. She had read many books set up the same way during her Shiz days, a time when she had nothing else to do. She had found the book interesting; learning about new things always interested her even if the book was extremely dull. The book seemed to cover everything about the aspects of their culture; she really didn't have any questions on the subject. Except, the only thing that she now really wanted to know about them was; what did they call themselves? Surely they didn't use the term "Mountain people". But throughout the entire book that was it they were addressed as. She would have to ask the Princess the next time she saw her...

"Come, follow me, now is the time for your questions to be answered." Elphaba nearly fell off of her bed. It was the second time today that Nastoya had caught her off guard; she would have to work on that. Nastoya had told her she would come when she was done with the book and put on the clothes, both of which she had done...but how could she know that?

"How-"

"You are an impatient woman. Questions in a few minutes, now follow me." The woman was beginning to become insufferable. Elphaba got up and walked to the flap that was used as a door to her room. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Elphaba stopped right in front of the flap; she had forgotten something. She was supposed to be wearing the garb of a Mountain princess. The strange clothes she had been given consisted of tight, form fitting, comfortable black pants that seemed made for her. The pants were a big change from the skirts and dresses she had worn all her life. At first when she put them on they had seemed too strange to wear. But after a few minutes she became used to them and didn't think she would ever go back to wearing anything but. The pants gave her freedom of movement, which made her feel...prepared in them, like a cat ready to pounce.

For a piece of clothing like a shirt she was given a black shirt with no sleeves. It fit exactly like the pants, perfect. But over it all she was given a poncho to wear. It was black as well but it had an extremely small and extensive design over the entire surface in gray thread. It wasn't a single pattern that was repeated over and over, it just kept going, never the same, always different; it was beautiful. But she had forgotten to wear her headdress. Apparently what went on the head of a Princess wasn't a simple piece of cloth draped over the face like Elphaba had done at Kiamo Ko. On her head she was forced to wear a humungous mound of black cloth that looked like a beehive. Attached to the "hive" a sort of veil came down and would drape over her face. It was very long. It went down to her chest, and the fabric was harder to see through than an ordinary veil. The veil also extended to the back of her head, so that if people just took a quick look at her they might not know which side her face was on.

She took the headdress off of her bed and put it on. She felt like a fool wearing the thing but she didn't have a choice. Nastoya finally seemed pleased with her outfit complete and lead she lead Elphaba out of the tent. After heading out of Nastoya's room there was a long hallway with rooms lining both sides. Elphaba guessed they were the servant's quarters and that they were placed so close to Nastoya's room so that she could call upon at any time. The end of the hallway emerged into a foyer upon which there were flaps that lead to the other major rooms of the tent such as a dining room and kitchen.

Directly across from the end of the hallway there was a large flap that was opened to reveal an outside world, black in night. Nastoya led her out of the tent and outside. The surrounding tents were lit faintly from random fires. Elphaba turned around and she could see small, ordinary tents behind Nastoya's. She spun around, her eyes following the row of tents and she realized that it was a ring of tents that surrounded three larger tents, Nastoya's being one of them.

Elphaba continued to walk but stopped again to stare at what she thought was blue tent. She couldn't make it out that well; there were no fires in it or around it. She moved her veil aside for a second to get a better look. It was smaller than Nastoya's, much smaller. It was just a little larger then the ordinary ones. She only had a second to wonder whom it belonged to when she realized Nastoya was leading her into a different tent and she let her veil back down and hurried to catch up to her.

They entered the third tent. This tent was smaller than Nastoya's but still gigantic. It was made out of a sort of dark reddish brown cotton. Elphaba noticed right away the small differences between this one and Nastoya's. They were just small differences, how the rooms were set up, how the furniture was arranged, what was in the tent and so on.

This tent seemed to be more geared towards war. There were weapons hanging on the sides the thick, simple furniture. But there wasn't much furniture at all, unlike Nastoya's tent, in each room there might be one piece that furnished the room. Obviously the tent was designed to be picked up and moved on the spur of the moment, but the apparent permanent-feel to wherever she was had begun to affect this tent, hence the small amount of furniture. The set up of the rooms was more unorganized than Nastoya's as well. There was a foyer, like Nastoya's, but there was no central hallway off of it. Instead there were three hallways and she was lead through the center one. The hallway ended in an inner-foyer where Nastoya led her through a trail of rooms.

Eventually Nastoya stopped her in a hallway that had branched off of a room. "You must wait here." She instructed before going through a flap. Elphaba heard inaudible mumbles from within and Nastoya soon emerged with two other people following behind her, one of which she had hoped she wouldn't have to see again.

Temeai gave her a small smile in response to her glare. Behind him there was an old man with gray hair and a short, neatly cut, gray beard. His face was wrinkled and there were huge bags under his eyes. He also had a cane to support him. Elphaba guessed this was Jhayahl, ruler of the Yunamata. Temeai stayed next to his father, Elphaba guessed to be close to him in case Jhayahl needed any aid. Nastoya moved past her without a word, Temeai and his father following her. Elphaba decided to follow her as well. She hated being lead to places but she couldn't refuse; she didn't even know where she was going. And whenever she was in the presence of Nastoya, she didn't think she would ever be the one to lead.

They came out of the tent into the night and were being lead to the empty blue tent that Elphaba had looked at before. When she entered there were no lights lit and she couldn't see. Eventually she heard the others move forward so she did as well and came out in another room, Elphaba guessed. Someone then lit a candle in the middle of the room and Elphaba could see.

The entire room was empty except for a large, simple, square, wooden table in the center. In the middle of the table was a large candle that was sitting in a pile of melted wax. There were also four chairs, one on each side of the table. Nastoya, Temeai, and Jhayahl sat down and Elphaba followed suit. She took off her headdress, unable to stand wearing it any more. It earned her a disapproving stare from Nastoya but the Princess let it go.

Nastoya stood up and spoke first, "I, Zatray Nastoya, Princess of the Scrow tribe, Daughter of the Elephant Gods, Sister to the Scrow, come. Do you accept me?" Elphaba guessed that this was some sort of ritual that the Princess had engaged. Was this meeting something more than what she thought it would be?

"I accept you." Jhayahl said, who was sitting to the right of Nastoya.

"I accept you." Temeai said in turn, who was sitting on the other side of his father.

Elphaba assumed that she was supposed to follow suit. "I accept you." She said after pausing for a second, still not sure what was really happening.

"Accepted, I now sit." And Nastoya sat down.

Jhayahl stood up this time, needing help from his cane. He let out a cough and began to speak in a raspy voice, Elphaba wondered if he was sick. "I, Jhayahl Shraktle, Leader of the Yunamata tribe, Son of the Golden Grass, Brother to the Yunamata, come. Do you accept me?" He finished with a cough. They then repeated the acceptation and it was Temeai's turn.

"I, Temeai Shraktle, son of Jhayahl, come. Do you accept me?" Elphaba was surprised at how different his was. She was very confused at what she would say but still, they answered.

Elphaba hoped she had figured it out correctly. "I, Elphaba Thropp," she began. Next she guessed she would have to use a title. Temeai had no title, so he didn't say any. She had only one to her name and she thought it would be rude to not say it, "Wicked Witch of the West," flinching only slightly after having said it. The next part she was a little tentative about, she wasn't exactly sure what it was. The Princess and Jhayahl had used something of a title, she thought. But Temeai had used his actual father. She would go the safe route and do as Temeai did, "daughter of Brother Frexspar," next... was she Sister to anything? She was, "Sister to Saint Aelphaba, come. Do you accept me?" She finished, holding back a sigh of relief, and they accepted her.

"The accepted may now speak." Nastoya said, Elphaba assumed, ending the ceremony... or whatever it was.

Next Nastoya told them all why they were here, which was Elphaba. Apparently they had wanted Elphaba to lead and rule the three tribes to push back the Gale Forcers. But now with her "death" the plans have now changed. She would instead help rule secretly as to not call all the attention of Oz upon the Vinkus and the congregation of the three tribes, which turned out to be where Elphaba was. Her identity would be kept secret from everyone except the people in the room at the moment; the very existence of Elphaba would be kept secret. She would have to be disguised fully as a Mountain princess for her entire time ruling, only ever breaking her cover in the presence of nobody or only one or all of the people in the room.

The point of the meeting had simply turned out to inform Elphaba of everything they had planned and to see if Elphaba accepted. Having nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do, Elphaba accepted. The meeting came to a close with a simple "May the accepted be unseated," from the Princess and they all went back to their respected tents to sleep.

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Elphaba went in a crouching position with only her toes touching the ground. Her fingertips were spread out wide on the grass. She knew she looked like a frog but she had found this position allowed her the most movement and control of her body to avoid flying objects. With her close pants and shirt she was able to flex around on the ground, free to move any way she wished.

She began to move, in the same crouched position. She knew that from the way she was walking she must look like some freak creature out of a story. From behind her Elphaba heard a crunch and whipped her body around only to have to fling herself to the side to avoid more flying fire. She shot up to her feet and began to run towards another tree when fire engulfed her vision. She tried to jump away from it but she was too tired. Her feet tripped over each other and the fire hit her... kind of. The fire would have hit her but it disappeared first thanks to the spell Nastoya had put on the shrine that stopped the magic from actually killing or destroying anything.

Elphaba relaxed her entire body and spread her arms and legs out to lie on the ground. Princess Nastoya's figure appeared shimmering out of the trees in front of her, exactly where Elphaba knew she would come out. It always happened that way; wherever she lost Nastoya would just appear out of thin air. Nastoya was frowning at her, "You never use magic. If you used magic you might have a chance."

"If I use magic I will only hurt myself." Elphaba responded flatly.

"How will you know if you don't try?" Nastoya said, pretending to forget what had happened only a few weeks ago during one of her training sessions. Since the day after she arrived at the encampment Nastoya had forced her to train physically and magically. The only safe place for her to train was the shrine so it became the designated place for all of her activities. She had to train with an array of weapons, learning how to use each. Further more she had to fight against Temeai. She had only beaten him a rare few times and hated having to go through loss against him.

When it came to the subject of her training magically she had to go against Nastoya, who she found out was an extremely powerful Sorceress. She had never won once and had actually stopped using the little magic against her and using her to train physically so that she might beat Temeai. Nastoya, though, had soon discovered this out and had begun to give her magic lessons instead of simply training with her. Though Elphaba had learned how to use an array of spells successfully from the Princess she never actually used any in their training.

Elphaba pushed herself up on her elbows. She raised an eyebrow at her "And where exactly do you think this came from?" She said, shifting her position to wave her left scared left forearm in front of her face. The one time Nastoya had forced her to use magic again she had accidentally magicked a tree branch into movement. She hadn't known what she did until the branch had grabbed her. She had to have Nastoya un-magick it so that it would let go. After the incident Nastoya remagicked the shrine to include no damaging or killing humans; originally the spell just stopped damage to the shrine.

Nastoya sighed, "Very well."

Elphaba brought her body back down and stared up at the golden leaves of the trees that made up the shrine. It was nearly Autumn but the leaves were always gold. She looked sideway at the trunks of the trees that were also a golden shade of brown. She couldn't see it from where she was laying but she knew that in the bark of the trees the Scrow circle design was carved. It wasn't the same design, but it was similar. This design contained more circles than the original design. These circles continuously branched off of each other, creating the sense that it went on forever. She had wondered how the design had been carved into the bark. She eventually guessed that they had been magicked there. Magic was the only answer, with the design there cutting into the bark, how could the trees get water and nutrients?

Elphaba sat up and walked to a tree branch. She began to trace the design with her fingers, feeling the small design; it was so smooth. Nothing but magic could have done it. She leaned against the trunk of the tree and stared at the small canopy of the shrine. The few rays of sunlight that could pass through the thick covering of golden leaves bathed the shrine in a golden glow. The rays came down just as golden as the leaves around them. The light created small pools of golden light on the grass floor. With the golden light shining on the golden trees it just made the shrine seem more sacred. She couldn't place the feeling but some how it made her feel like she was walking in a place out of the legends.

A cool breeze came through and she lifted her head into it. Her braids whipped around slightly in the wind. Along with the clothes, minus the headdress, she had enjoyed having her hair braided. Nastoya had braided it for her into the most braids possible out of her hair. Apparently the Mountain Princesses had braided hair similar to the way Nastoya had done hers. The braids reached down to just above the middle of her back; she hadn't realized how long her hair was before letting it down for Nastoya to braid.

"We must leave now so that we can prepare for tonight." Nastoya said after a few minutes, allowing Elphaba to rest and enjoy a little peace.

"Prepare…? Prepare for what?" Elphaba inquired, turning around to face her.

"Tonight another Sunikaw will take place."

"A... Sunikaw?" Elphaba asked, having never heard the name before in her life.

"A Sunikaw is a meeting such as the one you attended on your first night here." Informed Nastoya. Elphaba frowned, _another one... why?_ "New matters have come to hand and must be discussed," Nastoya said, answering the questions going through her head.

Elphaba just pushed aside her questioning thoughts towards how Nastoya knew what was going through her head "Who will be going?" Elphaba asked, though, knowing who would probably be going.

"Well that will have to be seen tonight will it not?" Nastoya said smiling, "After all that is the point of the opening ceremony, to see who exactly is attending."

Elphaba hadn't expected that answer, "You mean that ritual?"

Nastoya nodded her head, "Yes. In times of war not everybody knew the people attending, new leaders could be assigned daily. To allow everyone to know whom they were talking with they developed the opening ceremony." It made sense.

"Last time, did I do the ceremony correctly?" Elphaba asked, "I mean, you looked at me… funny."

Nastoya went to answer but paused. She sighed, "What you did last time was fine." Elphaba raised an eyebrow at he, but she let it go. "Get ready, you must have time to become prepared mentally."

Elphaba stopped herself before she could groan. She knew that "to become prepared mentally", meant she would have to meditate; something she hated doing. For some reason the silence always made her more stressed and less calm.

After putting on her poncho and headdress she made her way to where Nastoya was waiting for her by the camels. She wondered what the Sunikaw would be about. It had to be something important. She thought about all possible topics during their ride back to the encampment. She had come up with many but the only way of actually going was to wait until later. When that thought crossed through her mind Nastoya turned around and gave her a small, quick smile.

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okkk now review or ill send the Nightmare Morrible Plushie after you and shes not friendly... just ask nessa she knows through personal experiences... shakes head she never saw it coming... 


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: well... its been over a month, slowly by slowly I paintstakingly wrote this chapter, a few words each day and finally o' finally on this day of happiness I have completed it. It has taken so long, yes I know, basically because it is summer and, well, I have better things to do lol its not that I don't love this fic and love to write its just that I only wrote so fast and so much before because it was during school and this is what I did instead of doing my homework, having homework is my motivation to write because writing my fic gives me something better to do and allows me to procrastinate the homework... and now I don't have homework and therefore my writing rate has fallen... I hope to start writing a little faster since I have AP Bio homework over the summer so I doooo have a little motivation but I really won't start to get writing until a week before school... and to the fic  
  
Oh one last thing, ::sends Nightmare Morrible Plushie after everyone who read and didn't review:: what you didn't think I forgot did you? Next time it will be worse, ::muwahahahaaa:: oh yes verrrry worse

**Chapter 11**  
  
Elphaba didn't know what time it was, all she knew that it was sometime deep in the night. No fires were lit; everyone was fast asleep. They were waiting at the blue tent, which Elphaba had learned to be the tent of the Arjiki ruler. It was deserted only due to the fact that the ruling family wasn't in the Vinkus. They didn't elect another ruling family only because they knew, more like stubbornly hoped, that the Tigular family still lived.

This time they were simply waiting for Temeai to come and meet up with them, and then they could proceed with the Sunikaw. It was different then last time because simply Jhayahl would not be joining them, they had only gone to his tent before to provide any extra aid. Elphaba had learned that had been his first time out of his tent in so long, she didn't think that he would be up to going out any time soon.

After a few more minutes of waiting Temeai finally arrived and they silently entered the tent. After making their way into the center room Nastoya lit the candle. Immediately Elphaba noticed two things that were different. The table wasn't square anymore, it was a circle, but it had the same candle from the square table melted into the center. Another difference was the chairs; there were only three of them. The chairs could be explained easily because somebody could just come here and take one chair away. But the table...the table was mind-boggling. After making her way to the table she pushed the candle a little to see if it had been scraped off the square table but it didn't move. She thought that maybe the circle had been cut from the square, but when she looked at the edges they didn't have the look of being recently cut. It had been five months and they could have just cut it then... But who could have known that four people weren't coming next time...

Nastoya snapped her back to reality by starting the ceremony and Elphaba pushed the questions that were invading her mind aside. The entire ceremony was exactly the same as it had been during the last one, except of course on less person and the fact that Elphaba knew what to say this time.

"The accepted may now speak." Nastoya finished. They all sat in silence. They all looked at each other to see who would speak first, nobody did. Eventually all three of them acquiring a sitting position of power, it had suddenly become a contest to see who would speak first. Elphaba was sure that both she and Temeai had no idea why the Sunikaw was called. That only left Nastoya knowing what it was about. But Temeai and herself were both too stubborn to show that they knew nothing, both stubborn not to make the first movement or sound until someone else did.

Suddenly, Nastoya moved...wait...did she? It was entirely too strange, Elphaba had never questioned herself to whether somebody moved or not, but now she was. It had seemed like she did...but Elphaba couldn't help but feeling that it was a trick of the eye. It was like her eyes saw movement that wasn't there, yet she still felt Nastoya motionless, sitting in her chair. Because of this uncertainty of movement or no movement it seemed that Nastoya was still able to maintain her part in the immature contest of stubbornness.

Elphaba had been so caught up in the question of "Did she move or not?" that when she looked back at Nastoya she realized that she was now looking at her. It felt different than just being stared at; it felt like she was staring into her. Not the physical Elphaba, but the mental Elphaba. Elphaba looked into Nastoya's eyes, causing herself to shiver. For some reason it was hard to hold the eye contact. She didn't know how long she lasted but she just couldn't stare any more and broke the eye contact.

Nastoya's eyes moved on to Temeai...well, she moved the same way she had done before, if that could even be classified as moving. He stared directly back at her, neither Temeai nor Nastoya succumbing to weakness. The silence seemed to stretch for a longer amount of time than it had when Elphaba had been forced to stare at Nastoya. Eventually Nastoya moved, a visible motion, and spoke, "Gale Forcers."

It wasn't just Elphaba confused by this, Temeai was as well. "Gale Forcers?" he asked.

Suddenly Nastoya produced a map from somewhere within her bulk of clothing, she was wearing layers today, quite unlike her to do so. She spread out the old, yellowed map and Elphaba recognized it as a map of all of Oz. "Here." Nastoya said, pointing to an area North of the Thousand Year Grassland, but South of the Thursk Desert.

"How can they be there, so close...what are they doing there?" she asked, leaning over to get a better look at the area Nastoya pointed out.

Nastoya, strangely, answered her questions directly. "Only getting closer." She said. "How they got there, I do not know but the Gale Forcers, I believe, have been under the control of a different political entity. As in, they are now separate from the Emerald City." Elphaba nearly gasped, which was quite a big deal to her. During her Shiz years she had made it a point to separate herself from Galinda and her type. The kind of girls who showed extreme emotion at any small, irrelevant matter, and to Elphaba, gasping was categorized under showing extreme emotion.

"But who?" Temeai questioned.

"As to that, I do not know. Here in the Vinkus, I'm sure you know we are somewhat isolated from the politics that engulf the rest of Oz. This information was given to me from some old woman who I happened to come across not too far from our encampment; I believe she was a tinker. Any way, this is off subject, we should be lucky to know this much; The Gale Force is coming. They were a hostile group before and I doubt they have changed. The reason I called this Sunikaw was for us to devise a plan of action."

"Fight!" Elphaba spoke with a vigor that hadn't consumed her since the days during the rebellion against the Wizard. "Send out scouts to find out where they are. The Gale Force has never entered the Thousand Year Grasslands and I don't think they are that willing to ever change that." She was suddenly filled with the overcoming urge to destroy anything and everything that the Wizard left behind, including the Gale Force. "Surround them and force them West, corner them between the Grasslands and the Great Kells-"

Temeai had been shaking his head from the first word she had spoken and he finally decided to stop her, "It is impossible, we do not have enough spare men. If you haven't noticed we don't have an army, we have our community. Yes it is good as any army but how many men do you think will die! Our people would die! It would be suicide." Elphaba was surprised, it seemed that Temeai put his people before everything else; he would be one of those few leaders who were truly great.

"Temeai has a point...but Elphaba does too, though not the point she was trying to get across." Elphaba raised an eyebrow at Nastoya. "The Gale Force won't go into the Thousand Year Grasslands. Temeai, you can lead a number of men to find out exactly where they are, and to make an appearance to keep them occupied."

"...But what will that do?" He asked, not sure of what Nastoya was getting at.

"It will give us time." Elphaba answered before Nastoya. She smiled upon discovering what Nastoya's plan was.

And for a single glorious moment, a moment of triumph and achievement, a moment where it seemed like the gods were smiling down upon her which allowed the world to lapse, destroying all rational thought and allowing the impossible to happen, Nastoya smiled approvingly back at her. "Yes, time to move. The Gale Force hasn't entered the Thousand Year Grasslands so far, but we can't depend on that forever. The new control of the Gale Force might have different fears then the Wizard had. While you are keeping them busy." Nastoya said while looking at Temeai.

"We can move the encampment away..." Elphaba trailed off.

"South, into the Lesser Kells." Nastoya said, pointing to the hill- like mountains on the map.

"If they come into the Grasslands to look for us, we won't be there." Temeai concluded.

"Exactly. It would get the Gale Force away from us, while leaving them with no direction to where we went." Finished Nastoya.

"How soon should we start?" Temeai asked, more relaxed then he was before.

"Immediately. We need to take all the time we can get." Nastoya instructed.

Temeai seemed surprise by the suddenness of it all but eventually he took it all in. "I'll tell my people tomorrow morning, early."

Nastoya laid her hand on top of his, "Our people," she said softly; he looked up at her. "After this all of us will be one tribe united."

He seemed shocked and surprised for some reason, all he could do was mouth the words "One tribe"

"Then it's all set..." Elphaba said softly, but loud enough for all to hear.

"Yes, it is, everything is set." Nastoya said in the same tone, but when Elphaba looked at Nastoya, her eyes showed that her words meant so much more.

Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushies to everyone who reviews!!! These plushies make any type of doughnut you wish! These plushies are magical and no ingredients are necessary! Just give them your order and ::bing:: your doughnuts are ready! When doughnuts are done not only does the plushie ::bing:: but he also sings the entire Batman remix version of Jingle Bells, which we know is something that no human has ever been able to do. Oh and if you don't review... not only do you don't get a plushie but you have to watch everyone else eat their unlimited supply of doughnuts from their plushies along with listening to the endless Batman Jingle Bell song while you... ::DUN DUN DUNNNN:: hang upside down over a pool of stinky pond-water where there are old ugly dirty gale forcers skinny dipping while you are being forced to read each and every single Bailey School Kids books while you are tickled from head to toe by flying Nightmare Morrible Plushies... face it, the easy way out is to simply review and bask in the glory of the Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushie


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: sooo... a much sooner update than expected, but I have 5 chapters of AP Bio to read, outline, and do a study guide and school hasn't even started yet soooo I'm just procrastinating... though ill have to start cause it is just super-hard, I'm tenth grader taking bunches of AP classes already... why, whyyy meee... why did I have to be smart!!!... ok annnyway the first half of this chapter is just so awesome, i hope, it took me forever to write and my editor, who i am thanking right now, went "woaaah" and one of my buddies, Nessa, went "you have outdone yourself!"and I hope you like it too, please review the first part especially since I put so much hard work into it... ok now time for general statements to address your concerns:

::ahem:: YES, I will be merging the three worlds, Nor's, Elphie's, and Glinda's... I just haven't gotten to Glinda's yet so be patient! Her POV is coming up in a short while... but which ones I merge and when is totally my decision and will happen when I want, I can't just push them all together right away, then what would I have for a fic? Ok? and yes be rest assured Nor's world will be coming back soon, as will Elphie's after I pull away from her, ditto with Glinda, and yes, there will be a plushie variation of each character or Wicked OBC member... or just a current Wicked Cast member, who knows... speaking of plushies... itttsss plushie tiiiiime!

Plushie Orders: ok if you haven't noticed by now I just do this to thank you each specially since, I love my reviewers so here's a list who get the latest Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushies

bubblesnbrooms – 1 Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushie

MaureentheDramaQueen – 1 Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushie

wickedwitchoftheNE – 1 Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushie

My Divinest – 1 Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushie

xoxodancexoxo – 1 Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushie

Liz/Liira – 0 Easy Bake Oven Doughnut Chistery Plushie

Nessa – 1 Special Edition Easy Bake Oven Ganoli Chistery Plushie

now... ontooooo the fiiiiic!!!

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Elphaba dodged through the alleys in between the great green towers of the Emerald City. She had stayed out until it was dark enough for her to travel unnoticed. She didn't look behind her, only forward, only ahead, only up at the crescent moon. She kept her eyes locked on that one target, away from the menacing spires. Whenever she looked at them they made her feel sick. They made her feel trapped. They made her want to hide. She couldn't go anywhere in this damned city and be free of them. She had failed to kill her, she had failed, and the fact that the towers were still standing was a constant reminder to her. A reminder that she wasn't fit to live. A reminder that she was a waste of life. A reminder that she would always be unable to do anything she wanted; that those accursed towers would be ensnaring her like vines for the rest of her life. They made her want to empty her stomach but she refused to show them weakness. She refused to bow her head to them. She refused cry to them for mercy. She could see them surrounding the moon, caging it, containing its glow. And they were laughing at it. They were making fun of it because they could, because it couldn't fight back. She couldn't stand it, she wanted to help but she couldn't. Laughter. Pain. Trapped. Failure.

Her steps became more rigid and random. Her body swayed and she fell to the ground. The laughing wouldn't go away and it was giving her a headache. She brought her hands up to her head and massaged her temples. Slowly the laughter ceased and she pulled herself up and continued her way forward, ahead, she wouldn't look back, she could never look back. Pain. Trapped. Failure.

Just the thought of what was behind her made her start picking up speed. Then she thought of what was all around her and she ran the entire way to her home, which in reality wasn't so homey. By the time she opened her door she had closed her eyes and wanted nothing else but to just collapse and get some rest. But after she closed the door and took one step into the room she heard a splash and an uncovered area on her leg began to burn. Pain.

Elphaba's eyes shot open and she jumped back. There was some liquid on the floor, everywhere, so much of it. There wasn't enough light from the moon to tell what liquid it was, but there was just enough to show that it was everywhere. She went down on her knees; careful not to have her legs or hands touch it. She brought her eyes down and could almost make out color. Failure.

Elphaba heard a meow and looked up. There in the middle of the liquid was her red-eyed white cat. Except, he wasn't white, he was all red. No white part of his body showed anymore. Red.

She felt her heart skip a beat, "Blood," she said softly, a whisper, she didn't want anybody to hear it. She wanted nobody to witness the word in case if she just denied its existence it would go away. She closed her eyes, wishing herself to forget about it. _It's not there. It **can't** be there! _With her eyes closed she brought a hand down to the ground and her hand met with the cool liquid that felt like fire to her skin. She hissed and whipped her hand on her clothing and opened her eyes, all she could see was blood. Pain. Blood. Red.

_Who's-_ she didn't need to finish thinking that sentence. She knew. She knew whose it was but wouldn't say it. Wouldn't think it. Wouldn't hear it. The thought alone was too painful. Hurt. Him. Dead. Red.

Suddenly she couldn't breath. Still on the ground she backed up until she hit the wall, she needed to get away, as far away as she could from the blood, not just the blood, his blood. Blood. Him. Dead. Red.

_No, it can't be, it's not, it's not there, **no!**_ As she thought of what she knew was true her body went numb. She closed her eyes again and stuck her hand into the blood. She felt the pain but it didn't register, "No! **No** its not real!" she screamed. Sending two hands into the dark liquid, causing it to splash onto her arms, causing herself even more pain. When her cheeks and eyelids began to burn she realized that she was crying. "No… no its not real… no, no it can't be, no…" she muttered continuously. She soon realized that her hands were still on the ground, in the red fluid, and that they had gone numb with pain. She pulled them up, staring at the blood that was on the palms of her hands and she just stared and cried harder. She fell to the ground on her side staring at the dark liquid next to her, she just cried. Her tears mixed with the blood, _his_ blood. Numb. Hurt. Blood. Tears. Him. Dead. Red.

Soon the laughter came back, so much of it. "Go away!" she screamed but it didn't…it just got louder. She closed her eyes and threw herself into the wall behind her. "Go away!" But it still wouldn't leave her. She screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping to drown it out. Laughter. Pain. Tears. Hurt. Red.

She opened her eyes and realized that Malky was still standing in the middle of the blood, just standing there, laughing at her. Her eyes bulged, "**YOU!**" She said, her voice quivering, "**You** killed him!" She pushed herself up and ran through the blood, ignoring the pain that she deserved. The laughter came at her, harder and she brought her hands to her ears, "I'm going to **kill** you!" Laughter. Numb. Hurt. Him. Dead. Red.

While she was running the cat sprung up onto the windowsill and sat there, watching her run. When Elphaba came within arms length of the cat it jumped out of her apartment and into the darkness. Elphaba made it to the other side of the room and collapsed onto the windowsill screaming something she couldn't hear, she hurt so much, everywhere and the tears wouldn't stop coming, neither would the laughter. Laughter. Hurt. Tears. Blood. Him. Dead. Red.

She looked up out the window at the moon, but the towers were blocking most of it. The towers. There they were, laughing at her, spearing the moon, and sending their-vile green-selves through the moon. Killing it. Destroying it. Laughing at it. Laughter. Hurt. Red.

Elphaba couldn't take it, she couldn't take any of it. Her head hurt so much that the rest of her body was forgotten. And the laughter wouldn't go away. She crawled herself into a ball, trying to block it all away. She rocked herself back and forth and eventually the laughter subsided along with her headache. She soon realized that she was curled up in the blood. But she didn't care; she deserved the pain, all of it. It was her fault and this was her punishment. She just stayed there, letting his blood and her tears burn away her soul, well, what little of a soul she had been given by being with him.

Pain.

Numb.

Hurt.

Blood.

Tears.

Him.

Dead.

**Red.**

* * *

Elphaba woke up, her entire body stinging from a layer of sweat that covered her entire form. She'd had the dream again, _that_ dream. Just thinking about it made her entire body tremble. She suddenly felt like she was going to be sick and jumped out of her bed. She stumbled getting out from the sheets and she fell to the ground. She didn't stand up, she didn't move, she just stayed there, on the ground with her right arm supporting herself and her left hand clutching her stomach.

She hated that dream; she hated experiencing that day over again. She felt sick every time she thought about that memory. Just thinking about...him...made her want to just forget to live. It was her fault...it was all her fault and no punishment in the world could redeem her from the guilt she felt. The worst part was she always remembered the dream after she had it, always remembered every detail. She deserved it, she deserved all of it...it just hurt so much. It haunted her constantly but she was always able subdue the memory, if it was a memory at all. She wasn't sure if that was how things actually happened that day. She had remembered, but eventually that dream became her only memory.

She pushed the sickening feeling to the back of her mind and forced herself to get up. Holding onto the bed for support she was able to steady herself somewhat. She walked slowly, her head had begun to develop a constant throb and she couldn't tell if the room was spinning or not. Clutching her stomach she began to make her way to Nastoya's room. She needed to get out of her room. Her small, confining room...a flash of the dream came back to her and she suddenly felt overwhelmingly trapped. She needed to be free. Her head was pounding and she couldn't get the visions from the dream out of her mind. She felt her body about to retch but she held it back by willpower alone. The nails on the hand clutching her stomach began to dig into the fabric of her shirt, their small tips pricking her stomach but she ignored it. She stumbled through the curtain/door into the more spacious room of Nastoya. But at the sight of Nastoya's room she was so shocked she forgot about the dream entirely.

"Surprising how something that was so beautiful, can become so plain in an instant." Nastoya was standing in the center of her room, looking the opposite way of where Elphaba entered. But Elphaba didn't stare at Nastoya, her eyes couldn't stop searching Nastoya's room, it was... empty. Everything was gone; the room was completely bare except for Nastoya and herself.

"...How?" Elphaba managed to choke out, "Why?"

Nastoya turned around to face her, "Well you don't think that I could have brought everything with me? No, the tribes of the Vinkus have survived so long by their mobility, always ready to leave in an instant no matter what. But we began to forget that, especially myself, when we all came here." Nastoya sighed and circled around the room, looking at the bare walls. "Forgetting about the past is a terrible mistake, you must always be reminded of it, lest you forget what you've learned."

It seemed as if Nastoya had known what Elphaba dreamed about, but she didn't care. As Elphaba heard Nastoya's words she remembered about the dream, but suddenly, it didn't sicken herself as much. The memory still hurt her, it was still a deep gash that cut through her entire being, always there, always hurting, always reminding her of the pain she had felt that day. It still made her want to cry until she couldn't any more, it made her want to just pull at the thin threads that were still holding her life together so there would be nothing else but the pain. But it didn't make her want to retch at the thought of it anymore.

"I just can't believe it's gone." Nastoya said longingly. This was the most emotion Nastoya had ever shown in front of Elphaba. "I can't believe it's gone..." She whispered, her voice nearly quivering at the end.

"It was amazing..." Elphaba replied, not knowing what else to say. She chuckled and smiled, "Now that I think of it, I wish I could see it all one more time," she brought her hand away from her stomach and down to her side, mirroring the other. Her eyes looked down, "Just once."

Nastoya closed her eyes, gathering herself, "What has happened, has happened," She opened her eyes, "Nothing will change that." Nastoya said with her voice more controlled than before, "But all of it is not gone."

Elphaba stared at her, but before she could say anything something started to happen to Nastoya. Something that Elphaba only remembered having seen happen only once before. Her clothing fell away from her now larger body. Her legs were massive, her arms coming down, the same size as her legs. Her face was so different, instead of a nose a powerful trunk, her eyes seemed to be able to see more, instead of her old ears, new ones, huge ones that resembled what Elphaba imagined as the sails to ships that she read about in the books at Kiamo Ko. She was an Elephant.

If Elphaba had never seen Nastoya like this before she most likely would have begun to cower, being alone in a room with an Animal as magnificent as her. "As long as we remember how beautiful it was, it will always be beautiful. Memories keep everything alive." Nastoya said, almost like she was lecturing her, "But I did keep a few choice items."

Elphaba looked up at Nastoya and watched her trunk reach up into the top folds of the tent, completely invisible from Elphaba's viewpoint. "First of all, I believe that this belongs to you." Nastoya said while turning around and lowering her trunk that was holding something small and made of glass. Elphaba reached out and Nastoya placed it in her hands. It was her looking glass given to her from Turtle Heart. She ran her fingers it, moving the nail of her pointer finger through the crack in the glass.

She didn't know what to say. "Thank you."

"You will be needing it." Nastoya said, but before Elphaba could ask anything, even if she had wanted to; she couldn't argue with something that dominated the room as Nastoya did now, she turned around again and reached back up to retrieve another item. "I believe that this is also yours." Nastoya said lowering her trunk once again, but Elphaba couldn't make out what it was from the way that Nastoya was holding it. Elphaba placed the looking glass on the floor so that she had both hands to hold what Nastoya had placed in her hands. Elphaba was suddenly glad she wasn't holding the glass because the likelihood she would have dropped it along with the item, like she just did. She had just been holding something she had never wanted to see again, ever.

* * *

well... that's it for now... and oh... what you really think im that dumb?!? Of course I didn't forget ::ties up everybody who read and didn't review:: ::puts them over that aforementioned disgusting, stinky pool of pondwater:: NOW LET THE PUNISHMENTS COMMENCE!!! ::claps hands:: :: the old ugly dirty naked gale forcers start to enter the water:: ::Nightmare Morrible Plushies enter flying, holding feathers and Bailey School Kids books:: ::Easy Bake Oven Chistery group begins to sing:: I don't know about you, but I think you guys should just start reviewing before I come up with nastier punishments 


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: very sorry for the wait! school has been a compelete hell and im taking on so many other personal projects that require so much time, i find myself with no time for fanfiction, but im trying harder, really i am, and please people REVIEW! lol i have to have some devoted reviewers out there!! come on!!! i know its been over a month but still, please, people READ AND REVIEW!!! expect an update within the next two weeks, I think that's ample time for me to write on...

so here it is!

* * *

**Chapter 13**

* * *

"It can't be! Where- How?!" her head was spinning, it just couldn't be possible. She rarely let her words move faster than she could think, but right now, she just wasn't thinking.

Nastoya gave her an odd look, tilting her gigantic head, but said nothing of it and answered her question. "The day you arrived, I traveled to Kiamo Ko myself to see what happened. What I saw puzzled me to no end, but I decided to bring back anything I thought you might need," she gestured with her trunk at the two items, "these and this." She revealed an old thick book with a worn cover and purple pages of silver ink; the Grimmerie.

"That book! I never want to see that book again! And that!" Elphaba spat, pointing, to what she had dropped, "I don't need, I don't even want!" As she looked at it again a wave of wariness swept over her; something wasn't right. Her thoughts moved back to the day she had woken up. Her brain processing everything that she had seen in Kiamo Ko...everything she had seen, and not seen. Wait...that couldn't be right. Instead of jumping to rash accusations she calmed herself and tried to sort it out logically. "Where... where did you find it?" She had spoken softly, she still was processing everything. Double-checking, trying to find away that she could be... wrong.

"It was lain across a pile of black, damp clothes...underneath your hat." Worry creased the gray skin of her forehead. Nastoya knew something was wrong. It wasn't as if Elphaba was trying to hide it. A perfect stranger could tell something was wrong with one look at her.

But as Nastoya's words left her mouth Elphaba's heart skipped a beat, and she could feel her face paling. "A-are you sure?" she stuttered, which was what she thought concerned Nastoya the most. Elphaba never stuttered.

Nastoya nodded. "Is something wrong?" the Elephant Princess asked.

Elphaba didn't hear her words, her pulse was racing and all she could hear was her heart beating in her ears. Somebody had visited Kiamo Ko after she had left. Somebody who had moved items around and left something that hadn't been there when Elphaba was. Somebody who knew Elphaba better than Elphaba knew herself. And somebody who could make a broomstick fly, for Elphaba was staring at what couldn't be, but had to be...her broom.

How the broom survived it's burning was beyond her. She had seen the entire thing go in flames, straw, wood and all. But there it was, charred black, but still in tact, even the straw.

"Its not real! It can't be, I killed it!" she whispered, but loud enough for Nastoya to hear.

Nastoya frowned, "I don't know what happened to you at Kiamo Ko, and I'm not sure I want to, but it is real, and you need it; for you won't be coming with us to the South, you will be going elsewhere."

"What-" but Nastoya cut her off.

"You must go to the Emerald City and finish what you started."

Elphaba gave her a questioning look and said, "I don't know what you m-"

But Nastoya wouldn't have any of it and stepped forward, causing the ground to shake, "Don't act like you don't know what I mean. You very well know what I'm talking about. You must make your peace."

"But I-"

"No!" Nastoya interrupted once again, but her voice softened considerably, "You will listen to me Sister of the Dragon." Elphaba had forgotten she had ever been called that, and suddenly, Nastoya reverted back to her human form. And immediately, Elphaba saw the difference in her, something she hadn't noticed before. Nastoya was weak. "I am dying." Elphaba's mouthed moved to speak, but no words came out. Nastoya brought her hands in front of her face, a face wrinkled with age, a face worn with wisdom, a face dying with grace. "I have passed my powers on to another...they were all that have kept me alive, and they have served me long enough. I have seen what I was meant to do, and that was you." She paused, "Listen to me Elphaba, go to the Emerald City and set right what you have done wrong. You must do it for the sake of Oz."

Elphaba shook her head; she couldn't try to save Oz when Oz had tried killed her. She didn't give a damn about what happened to Oz! She'd let them all die if it was up to her. But it wasn't. Something made her forget that. "They are dead! The wizard killed them all!"

"No he did not. You must trust me, I have seen it," she stated firmly, pointing to the mirror lying a few feet away from both of them. Nastoya stood up and grabbed the blackened broom. "Go, go now my sister."

And with that Elphaba left, taking the broom, mirror, and Grimmerie with her.

* * *

It had taken an hour to pack what little things she needed and to change into her old, more comfortable clothes. She had tied everything to her broomstick and left without a word to Nastoya; she couldn't say goodbye to her after what she was making her do. Damn her! She wouldn't say goodbye.

But she had said a few parting words with Temeai, who had caught her before she had time to leave without a trace. Not wanting anyone to know she was leaving, she had told him to tell nobody. She knew he wouldn't if it was how she wished it. But it hadn't seemed like a goodbye. Something gave her the itching feeling that they would meet again, and that very much perturbed her.

Bringing her thoughts away from the people who she refused to care about she decided it was time to leave. Bringing the broom beneath her she moved to take to the sky, but something wouldn't let her leave just yet. She glanced towards Kiamo Ko and sighed. "Goodbye." She whispered, but to whom she did not know.

And with that she took flight, a dark speck against a sky glowing bright with the first rays of morning. They were the same rays that crept through a solemn open window with a burnt out candle in it; the window of Glinda the Good.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: well, I've begun to write with new vigor thanks to you all who still want it, really like practically all of you I didn't even know you were reading, lol, so I'm going to keep it up and keep updating as long as readers are plentiful, though nancystagerat's comment was what really made me start writing again, so I'm dedicating this chapter to her- I'm going to try and keep this author's note short and just leave you with this thought of **IF YOU READ PLEASE REVIEW**, its not for the reviews, its for me to know people are still reading, I'm not going to write unless I **know** you're reading, and reviewing is the only way to do that, so here is the chapter… (**PS: SECRET PRIZE TO ALL REVIEWERS!!!**)

**IMPORTANT** Chapter Info: opps… one more thing before you're allowed to read, lol, hehehe, umm me and my friends consulted it, and we created a **Charmed Circle Age Chart**, though, I believe, Maguire did mean the book to end with Elphaba in the age of 43, his math adds Elphaba up to be 37/38… so here's the chart (well, some of it), if you want me to explain any part of it, I would be more than happy to and post my explanations in the next chapter:

* * *

**Charmed Circle Age Chart (abridged version):**

Age When Glinda Comes to Shiz-When Elphaba Leaves Shiz-When the Book Ends (In My Fic)-When My Fic Starts-Birthday

**Elphaba/":**18-19-37-38-June

**Galinda/":** 17-18-36-37-July

**Nessarose/:** 15-16-34-34-Late April

**Boq":** 18-19-36-36-Early February

**Fiyero":** 17-18-36-36-Early December

**Birthday Based on Book/**

**Birthday Based on Me"**

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**Chapter 14**

* * *

Glinda sighed as she saw the fist signs of morning peek into her room. She massaged her temples in a futile attempt to ward off the ever-persistent migraine that seemed to plague her no matter how hard she tried to rid herself of it. For the past six months, nights for her had been restless. A sleep that was more like just simply going unconscious; awaking each day just as exhausted as the night before. She just couldn't get her thoughts together to figure out how she could possibly feel better. Though, of course, she knew it had to do something with the fact that she was working twice as much as she had ever done before. 

She left her down pillows and silk sheets to have her bare feet greeted by satin slippers. Matching her long nightgown she slipped on a light blue robe, tying it around her waist, but before leaving she toke a quick glance in the mirror. She couldn't help but smile at what a contrast her outfit was to the gowns she wore daily. After a short comb to make sure her hair wasn't all over the place-imagine looking like a mess in front of the servants-she departed from her room into a long hallway that was comfortably equipped with hand-woven rugs from Wittica.

The head servant of the household, Kathleen, greeted her with a courtesy once she finished descending the staircase down into one of her many living rooms. "My lady, the morning is a picture. I suggest your breakfast be served in the Eastern wing dinning room, the one with a view out into the courtyard." Kathleen spoke with a voice of experience; heaven knows she probably did have a lot, seeing as how she must be over twice Glinda's own age and having worked in this profession her entire life.

Come to think of it how old was she_…36…no, 37_, "When did that happen?" she whispered, asking herself, forgetting that she wasn't alone. The maid gave her a look but Glinda dismissed it. "That sounds lovely. Lead the way." She followed Kathleen.

After being seated in an embroidered cushioned wooden chair at an antique hand-carved table her meal was served. Though in fact the breakfast was more like a banquette fit for thirty, but as usual she said nothing about the over-large portions. She knew the cook would take offense if she told him to prepare less, so she simply tried to eat as much as she could. Lately she didn't care to watch how much she ate at breakfast anymore; she often went without lunch **and** dinner most days, her life was a constant hustle and bustle. The morning was the only time during the day that was solely under her control and she reveled in it.

A minimum of six servants was always at her attendance, but she had become accustomed to their presence and now they simply melded into the background; just part of the scenery. Most likely more than half of the mansion's yearly expenses would go to the wages of her workers. She paid them generously and in return she was being given service fit for an Ozma.

_Though_, she thought, _it is appropriate I suppose_. It had taken a time getting used to, and she still didn't think of herself any differently, but she was the new ruler of Oz. Temporarily though, as she assured the public. It wasn't as if she had wanted the job, there was just not a single person adequate for it beside herself, according to those who had unanimously voted her into office, at least. Though, she had been unknowing about the entire '_need'_ for her to take the position until three days after The Wizard's departure, when she was approached with the topic. But what could she have done, refuse? No. She accepted and hoped to do the best she could at it, which apparently wasn't all that bad, so far. But once the proper person was found she would gladly put him, or he, into office. And hopefully whoever this person was would be given a better title than her own. Apparently to the public she was known as The New Ozma. She detested being compared to the Ozma reign and hoped nobody considered anything of it. She was doing everything in her power to deject the idea, but so far nobody thought twice about her efforts.

After eating a good portion of the bacon strips, eggs (scrambled and sunny-side up), and buttered cinnamon-toast that had been served, she moved to the more flavorful breakfast choices. She loaded her plate with a stack of warm fluffy buttermilk pancakes that tipped ever so slightly, threatening to fall over. Each was topped with, alternating between, sweet, juicy strawberries, rich blueberries, and cinnamon-apple, along with a whipped topping. She also added several pork sausage links and a few slices of ham to her already-over-full plate. She smelled the delicious food and couldn't help but shoving mouthfuls of it into her mouth, lest she start to drool.

When she finally came up for air she decided to slow down a bit; Half the Battle is Pacing Yourself, oh how she loved revisiting her old quotes, they brought back so many memories. She turned her head to take a look to her left at a giant window, the main attraction of this particular dining room. Currently it was covered with red and gold curtains, threaded with a design so elaborate Glinda herself was sure she had not seen all of it. To think she had lived with those curtains since the day she and Sir Chuffrey had married, it had been a wedding present.

Her lips let out a sigh, the second one within the hour. She placed down her fork; a break from eating was only proper while remembering her deceased husband. She brought her head up to take a cursory glance at the chair across the table, just to register that it was empty. She had loved him; the two had fit together well. Though true she had married him for his money, she wasn't fooling herself into not believing that, and true she had always wanted children... and true she wasn't always- faithful to their marriage, but he had been familiar. He had been sweet and kind to her, which was more than any other lover of hers could say. It had only been six months since his death and she still wasn't used to being alone. She reprimanded herself for not caring more about him when he had been alive.

She clapped, "The window, please," she directed to the nearest servant. He dashed to the curtains and opened them slowly, allowing the white morning light to spill into the room. Kathleen had been right; it was a beautiful day, in a bare-silence sort of way. In a pale elegance outside the window stood the rest of Glinda's palace, well, most of it. Her home was built in a 'U' shape, though, with many wings crossing over or just simply jutting out of the two main wings, there were even some halls that bridged across randomly on the upper floors, she loved it.

She had wasted not a single breathe in designing it. Architecture was her passion and suddenly she was set free. The designing of her masterpiece took all of a week, she knew what she wanted and she dove in head first to get it. Taking blueprints, designs, paintings, sketches, descriptions, anything of the architecture in Shiz, she used it all to envision what she was looking at right now.

When she had been told she must take up residence in the Emerald City as Oz's new ruler she didn't think she would have been able to stand living in a monstrosity built in the design of _High Hostile Crudstyle_. Even looking at the wealthiest parts of the Emerald City makes her want to cringe. So as a solution to her opposition against moving into the Wizard's old palace, she had it removed instead. She wanted her place of residence to be not just a mansion, but also a home, and she knew very well that the best part of her life was spent at Shiz. It seemed only proper to make her home some sort of reflection of the city where she spent her college years.

Merthic, Bloodstone, Bluestone, Gallantine, all the styles mixed together to create stunning towers that reached heights beyond any emerald tower. Narrow arches topped with distorted pediments, curves, curves everywhere, oddly shaped ogees were especially common when leading outdoors. Pedestals too, Glinda chuckled, when was the last time the Emerald City had seen pedestals? True only the most ancient buildings of Shiz still had pedestals, but hers were special. They were gorgeous things that burst into waves and waves of arches, twisting and entwining in and out, seeming as if the very stone they were built out of had grown up out of the ground in an eruption of physical grace and elegance.

All of it hand carved, though that depends on how you define 'hand carved'. It would have cost the entire country an arm and a leg if it hadn't been for her hiring of a few skilled individuals in the art of sorcery. Of course the palace wasn't simply magicked into existence, all the stone had been set, all the wood had been built in place, the metal frames forged. Her specialists simply shaped the materials, via sorcery, into her preferred image. They had taken all of Shiz and shaped it, morphed it randomly into her monument of a house built with a mixture of wood, stone, with just a touch of metal, as a kind of… garnish. True sometimes it took days to simply shape a few arches, but it was faster than the conventional method, and cheaper. The job had been finished little below a month ago, groundbreaking efficiency.

In this morning light her goliath of castles looked absolutely gorgeous. The branches of trees, bare, reaching up, grasping for the stone that towered over them, and ivy strategically placed, falling, growing off of balconies, with vine just beginning to creep up the walls. It was hers, and all hers. But what she liked the most about it was the fact that it wasn't green, it made a statement towards The Wizard's rule.

She sipped her tea and grabbed a few biscuits out of a bowl and buttered them, taking some cheese and putting it inside each, along with the final touch of some ham. She relished in her ingenuity at putting together these little 'breakfast-sandwiches', savoring each bite of the first one and soon moving onto the second when she was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"You may come in," she answered. It was a proper manner of politeness and respect to knock before entering. Glinda had made sure her servants were well taught in the ways of higher etiquette.

Kathleen took a step in and curtseyed quickly before delivering her news. "My lady, I'm sorry for disturbing you but your guest would like to speak with you. If you would like him to come back at a better time then-"

"No its fine, see him in and then you may go." Kathleen nodded and curtseyed before bringing in her surprise visitor who had arrived last night.

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Chapter Dedication: nancystagerat 


	15. Author's Note

**Author's Note: **After realizing that I haven't signed on in over a year- I've decided that it is now official.

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**ALMOST PERMANENT HIATUS  
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I have part of the next chapter written, and if i ever finish it, I will most definetly post it. That may or may not possibley spark my interest in this story once again. I feel horrible about this because this was my first fanfiction ever, and I usually never give up- I have the whole plot outlined and I've even toyed with a sequel idea! But it has been a **year **and I am not a writer, I tried- it didn't work out, it was fun- but its not who I am. I'm very sorry and I love all of you that have even just read a chapter of my fic- It meant, and still means, so much to me. If anybody ever wants to reach me, my email and livejournal addresses are in my profile. I better finish this before I start to cry :sniff: lol.


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